


Cracked Porcelain Soul

by eduns



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Blood, Corruption, Dark, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Headaches & Migraines, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Possession, Self-Harm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:00:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22126759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eduns/pseuds/eduns
Summary: A few months after the events of Battle City, Jounouchi develops constant headaches and a strange voice that talks to him from inside his head. He tries to ignore it, but coupled with his newfound budding feelings for Kaiba Seto, things only get worse from here.
Relationships: Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler/Kaiba Seto, Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler/Yami Marik
Comments: 17
Kudos: 80





	1. one

**Author's Note:**

> Hi I've been working on this fic for like almost three years now, it started as this little thing I wrote for fun and ended up becoming this multi-chapter monster. I have all the chapters written for this already, so I'll try to update this on a weekly basis. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Also, if you're wondering where in the canon timeline this lies, I based it on the original manga, so it takes place somewhere after the Battle City arc, but before the Millennium World arc!

It was a warm Monday morning when Kaiba ran into Jounouchi at school. Of course, it is a small school and everybody knows everybody, so it’s not like it was a surprise for the two to see each other.

It was in the middle of morning class when Kaiba opened the door to an almost empty bathroom, save for Jounouchi.

“What’s wrong with you.”

It was more of a statement than a question when it comes out of Kaiba’s mouth. He stops in his tracks in front of the door of the school bathroom when he spots Jounouchi, hunched over one of the sinks holding his head in his hands, his blond hair fallen over his eyes. Kaiba lets the door swing closed behind him, almost hitting him in the process.

“Hey, good to see you too Kaiba” Jounouchi kidded as he turned slightly to look at the other, but his voice sounded strained as he sucked air through his teeth, hands pressing into his temples.

Kaiba was kind of taken aback seeing Jounouchi like this. He couldn’t say he’d even seen him like this, with his back hunched over the sink cradling his head, as if he were some animal shrinking back after defeat. It was, decidedly, pitiful.

As if finally remembering what Kaiba asked after a small silence, Jounouchi answered “I’ve, uh, been having migraines recently.”

There was a strange hesitation in his voice that Kaiba picked up on. Why he picked up on it, he had no idea. He honestly didn’t know what compelled him to do what he did next either.

He moved from where he was frozen before, closing the distance between them. Digging around in his pocket, he grabbed a small bottle of aspirins.

“Here.”

Kaiba holds out a small aspirin between them. Jounouchi looks up from his hands and registers this offering with a bit of a surprise.

“Nah.. I… I don’t really trust drugs and shit.”

Kaiba pushed his hand a little closer wordlessly. After a few moments of silence he almost forcefully grabs Jounouchi’s hand and placed the small pill in his hand.

“It’s better than nothing, really. Take it.”

Kaiba watched as Jounouchi looked at the aspirin in his hand again incredulously. He flicked his eyes back up at Kaiba with some hesitation before popping it in his mouth, cupping his hands into a bowl under the running faucet afterwards to drink and swallow it down.

He really didn’t know why he even stopped to worry about him and even go as far as offering help. But knowing Jounouchi from interacting with him and his friends, he was always such an upbeat person who seemed to only radiates positive energy. Seeing him now… it was like watching a puppy that was kicked to the side of the road. Kaiba stood there awkwardly as Jounouchi swallowed the aspirin and gained his bearings again. He steadied himself by gripping the sides of the sink. 

Jounouchi looked up at him through his bangs quickly, pausing for a moment to look back down at the sink and then back up again.

“Uh… thanks Kaiba. Kinda didn’t expect you to help.”

He only nodded stiffly in response and walked back out the door awkwardly to find another bathroom. 

‘Ridiculous’ he thought as he stormed down the hall. Kaiba felt a wave of annoyance wash over him, souring his mood for the day.

* * *

It has been about a week since they had last interacted. The whole encounter rubbed him the wrong way, something just felt odd about it, and when Kaiba had a bad intuition it was usually right.

When Kaiba dared to, he would steal a glance in class at Jounouchi, but he was never looking his way (thankfully, Kaiba prayed in hindsight.) He was either looking down at his hands or looking out the window with, Kaiba could only imagine, a far away vapid look, not fit for his face.

It was in between classes when he spoke to Jounouchi again, or rather, when Jounouchi approached him. 

He was at his locker, grabbing a book for his next class. After closing it rather loudly, a familiar face popped up from behind the locker door. 

First thing Kaiba noticed was he didn’t look himself. He wore a sheepish smile that was meek and gentle, very unlike the loud and annoying Jounouchi. Kaiba studied his face for a moment; the circles under his eyes, the off color of his skin, even his posture was demure. Kaiba spoke first.

“What do you want.”

Kaiba noticed his voice betraying him, not being as harsh as usual. He just hoped Jounouchi wouldn’t notice.

“Ah… howdy Kaiba.”

Jounouchi straightened his posture, bouncing on his heels, and cleared his throat before looking up again.

“You still… have those aspirins on you?”

Kaiba rolled his eyes, pulling out the little bottle again. He poured a handful into his hand and offered to Jounouchi again, similar to when they last met in the bathroom.

“Take a few, I’m sure you’ll need them.”

“Why do you just... have these on you?”

Kaiba looked at him as if that was a stupid ass question.

“I get headaches a lot.”

“Huh. Well, thanks anyway. Guess your not always an asshole.”

It was clearly a jab at him, but Kaiba couldn’t help the relief washing over him hearing Jounouchi return to his rude and snide self. As if rehearsed, Kaiba bit back:

“You better not keep coming back and bleed me dry.”

Jounouchi just snickered and pocketed the couple of pills in his pocket and flashed a wave as he turned away.

“Later.”

Kaiba closed his locker gently, hand lingering on the cool steel for a moment before he walked the opposite direction.

-

‘You know, that really won’t help you.’

Jounouchi was in his bathroom at home, water dripping from his hair from splashing his face. He swallowed a pill with a handful of water and glared at his reflection. 

This would probably be the first time Jounouchi could say the voice was mostly right. This voice that had been bothering him for days on end now. Sure the aspirin relieved him of the constant headaches he had, but nothing could fix this voice that was very much not his own, trapped in his mind, talking to him right now.

He couldn’t quite pinpoint when it all started, but less than a month ago he heard it in class the first time he could recall. The room silent, the only sound that could be heard were the scratching of everyone’s pencils as they were in the middle of an exam, so when he heard someone speak into his ear as clear as day, he visibly jumped in surprise.

But it even started before that. He started getting constant headaches, never one to be prone to them until now. He felt oddly disconnected from himself often, like he was just looking through a pair of eyes, not even sure they were his own. It was hard to describe and he was fine waving it off as maybe a really weird cold or flu, but he had to admit to himself it was only getting worse. 

‘It’s because you like him right. That’s why you came back to talk to him again’ it hissed, breaking his train of thought. It, he realized, was talking about Kaiba.

Hot fire shot through his veins and quickly froze into cold ice. He hugged himself tighter.

“No.”

It was such a weak response, nothing in his body language and voice reaffirmed his answer, he simply blurted it out just to deny the fact. But now his mind wandered to the past week’s events

Why did Kaiba help him that time in the bathroom? He felt sick at the thought of Kaiba seeing him like that. Groveling in pain. Wounded. Weak. 

‘It doesn’t have to be like that, you don’t have to feel weak ’ The voice chimes in again, a hint of playfulness in its voice ‘If you didn’t keep ignoring me’ it continued, with fake hurt in its voice.

He instinctively groaned, feeling dread well up in his gut. Usually he tried just ignoring it, but recently it’s been pretty talkative, so he decided to humor it and talk back.

“Can you just shut up for a fucking second” he sighed exasperatedly.

‘Jounouchi, please, I’m only trying to help.’

He didn’t like the way the voice said his name. There was an emphasis on all the wrong parts, like a foreigner was saying it. And yet there was something so achingly familiar about its tone too. Every word it spoke echoed in his head, dripping with venom, clouding his mind and pushing him closer and closer to a precipice he did not want to fall from. It was a grating higher-pitched male voice that annoyed him to no end. He rubbed the bridge of his nose to soothe the sharp pains and responded through gritted teeth.

“I don’t want your ‘help.’ I don’t know what you want to do and I don’t want to find out. Just get out of my head and leave me alone for once.”

It laughed at this, a sickly cackle.

‘Oh Jounouchi, I feel like we can fix that attitude of yours.’

Jounouchi stayed quiet for a moment, thinking over what it was implying. Deciding he was done chatting with it, he made his way back to his room to sit at the desk by the small window. He dug into his backpack finding some homework to busy himself with.

‘You can’t just cut our conversation there.’

He gripped the pencil he just picked up a little harder hearing it talk again.

‘We could become friends,’ it drawled on, almost purring, ‘unless you want to do this the hard way where I drive you insane.’ If it was visible it would’ve been resting its chin in its hands, watching him with a glimmer in its eyes as he squirmed.

Jounouchi could feel his pulse quicken and his breathing hastened, he just prayed if he didn’t respond it would just go away. He gulped to try to rid himself of the dryness in his throat before it continued.

‘You can’t keep dismissing me forever. I can chatter on and on and on and you can only take it for so long… Eventually I’ll get to you’ it crooned. 

Jounouchi tried to open his mouth to protest, but felt his jaw locked in place. He almost couldn’t feel his body, it was numb. His limbs felt like static and all he could feel was his own pounding pulse and it’s deep dark voice. 

‘I think it would be fun to drive you mad. You won’t be able to put up with the way I poke and prod at your mind, the way I muddy your brain until you don’t remember what’s right and what’s wrong.’

His lungs began to constrict on themselves and he couldn’t breathe in air anymore. 

‘You’ll do things you’ll regret and there will be no turning back. And when you’re at your lowest, when you will have nobody to turn to…’

Dark shadows clawed at the edges of his vision as his head swam with that soothing smooth voice. 

‘...Then you’ll have to come crawling on all fours. To me.’

He saw the sharp pencil in his crushing grip and, not knowing what else to do, he reacted on impulse.

Burning hot pain bubbles out of his arm and a short strangled yell escaped his throat. He quickly pulls his hand over his mouth to stifle any more noise. Blinking through the haze, he could only see raw red seeping out from his arm.

He pulled the sharp pencil out from his wrist and dropped it with a dull clatter. Soaked in a cool clammy sweat he waited until his head was clear and eyes were open and felt a wave of relief when he was only greeted by silence in his mind.

Blood continued to ooze out of his arm and quickly stumbled to the old medicine cabinet in his bathroom. He rummaged around for something to cover up newfound gash so it would stop bleeding.

He pulled out some gauze and wrapped his arm in it, wincing at the pressure.

Jounouchi sank down onto the cool tiled floor, and felt overtaken by exhaustion. He was too tired to process exactly what just happened, feeling his eyes become heavy. He quietly drifted to sleep there.


	2. two

“There you are! We were worried you’d almost miss a day of school!”

Jounouchi rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he quietly slipped into his seat in class. His friends leaned over towards him, concern written on their faces.

“Yeah, I overslept a bit,” he said with a half-hearted laugh.

Yugi looked at him with concern but didn't press beyond that. Jounouchi knew that look; it meant Yugi knew he was hiding something. Shit. Well, of course Yugi would notice if something was wrong, they've been close friends for more than two years and he knew just about everything that made Jounouchi tick.

The day dragged on without much excitement after that. He sat through the bore of class, picking at the bandage on his arm, the dull throbbing pain the only thing keeping him awake in class. Yesterday evening didn't even feel real. If it hadn’t been for that lingering pain, he would’ve thought he had dreamed all that up, with how loose his memory was of it.

It was only during his last class of the day did anything happen. It was science, his one class he had with Kaiba. Jounouchi sat in silence listening to his professor drone on and on, head resting on his palm, fidgeting with the pen in his other hand, not bothering to take notes. 

He began to drift off into thought when he noticed his eyes not even focusing on the teacher anymore, focusing past him to an empty spot on the off-white walls. The buzzing of the fluorescent lights started to become noticeably loud in his ears. He started to hear every micro-movement, every shuffle of someone's clothes or every tap on a desk. The room cooled considerably and it felt as if not another living soul was in the room. He felt like he did the evening before, not in control. And that feeling scared him.

There was a person standing behind the professor, not there before. Their form was translucent, almost like a ghost, and just faint enough that you would only see them if you looked twice. It was someone familiar that made Jounouchi’s stomach drop.

He couldn't forget that face.

Jounouchi panicked and stood up abruptly, papers falling off his desk as he rudely pushed past students at their desks. He muttered a loose sorry and rushed to get out of the classroom as quickly as possible. He was vaguely aware of the teacher calling out his name in concern. He gripped tightly at his chest, a cold feeling spreading through his body. 

The feeling of loss of control, of his mind and body. He remembered it from when he used that… thing on him. The Millennium Rod. His mind was ripped from his body and he had screamed his lungs raw begging to be back in his own skin, but his voice reached no one and was swallowed by darkness. It wouldn’t reach, he was just close enough to see and watch. Watch his fight with Yugi that day on the docks.

He shivered, remembering he wasn’t there now, he was at school standing in the middle of the hallway after making a bit of a scene leaving his class before. Not wanting to be found, he wandered off. He thought about the library, it was always so quiet in there. The old books and dusty carpet absorbed most sound so it was a good place to think in. Right now Jounouchi didn’t want to think though, he just needed the silence.

He took his time wandering through the school’s halls, they were pretty empty right now with classes going on, hugging himself the whole time. When he got to the library he headed to the far corner and slid down to the floor into a sitting position. He shut his eyes tight and tried not to think or feel or hear or-

“Hey.”

Jounouchi’s eyes snapped open. He saw a pair of black shiny shoes standing before him. They were sort of see-through, but most definitely there. Jounouchi shut his eyes again and hugged his legs a bit tighter, hoping he was just seeing things.

“Jounouchi, you don’t have to pretend I’m not real anymore. I’m right here.”

His eyes opened abruptly and he angled his head up to see Yami Marik. Not fully there, but in an ethereal sort of form. He wore a small amused grin.

Jounouchi’s chest bubbled with raw anger and he stood up to be at almost eye level with Marik.

“Why the hell are you still here” he said in a seething whisper. “You should be dead” he continued, “Yugi killed you back then, your spirit left this world so- so why the fuck are you here?” It took everything he had not to break his whispering voice.

Marik crossed his arms and leaned back casually, a distant, bored expression on his face. 

“Well, seeing as I was rudely ejected from my host Marik back then I… well, you know, spirits don’t truly die.”

His eyes shifted towards Jounouchi’s eyes, expecting some kind of reaction from him. Jounouchi did and said nothing, so he carried on.

“So, I wandered this foul Earth in my weakened state and looked for a purpose again. That is when I remembered how my host carelessly waved the Millenium Rod around at people he sought to control.”

He waved his hand around to emphasize his point. He then focused intently on Jounouchi and broke the distance between them until they were breathing the same air.

“And I remembered... someone whom my presence seemed to have a strong impression on. You and your fragile mind.”

“M-my mind? Fragile?” he didn’t know what to say to any of this and was quickly becoming unnerved by Yami Marik’s presence in the living world again. He stumbled back a bit, only to be met with the bookshelf behind him. He practically clung to it behind him, fingers hooking onto the covers of books, anything to ground himself to the real world and to get away from the spirit inching closer to him.

“Yes… people are difficult to manipulate when they have such strong personalities, like your own. But there is always a flaw; a crack in their minds. You have so many troublesome thoughts, fragile insecurities, unrequited feelings… it’s so easy to get into your head when I know what to look for.”

He lengthened his words near the end of his sentence, dripping from his mouth like sweet honey. He pushed even closer to Jounouchi, trapping the other under his one hand and grasping his wrist.

Jounouchi was overcome with a dizzying vertigo and could barely register anything around him again. His body had that static-like feel to it and his limbs were becoming limp and cold. He could feel his consciousness growing fuzzy. Was this the power he had over him? It was terrifying. He then remembered how he overcame it last time. The pain… the sharp pain from stabbing himself with the pencil jolted Marik out of his mind before, it should work again.

He nervously fished around in his pocket for the pocket knife he usually had in there, moving quickly as to not draw attention from Marik. In a split second he flicked the knife out of the handle, light glinting off the blade, and turned it to stab his thigh. He let out a choked grunt, trying to keep the noise to a minimum. It was working though, Jounouchi felt his mind become sharp and regained his wits about him. Marik’s eyes widened in shock, and then narrowed in disappointment. The image of him was becoming hazier, until he just wasn’t there anymore.

Jounouchi let out a long shaky sigh, hands on his knees. He had to will himself to stop shaking before limping his way to the bathroom, trying not to make a scene. Each step sent a jolt of pain through his leg. The librarian and a couple other students in the library didn’t even bat an eye at him, thankfully.

* * *

“I thought you might have ran off here.”

Jounouchi seemed to jump slightly at the sound of his voice. Kaiba was leaning on the tiled wall beside the door to the bathroom. Jounouchi turned around tiredly and Kaiba noticed just how run down the other boy looked.

“What do you want?” 

Kaiba looked Jounouchi over carefully and his breath caught in his throat when he noticed the blood seeping out of his thigh, though his school pants.

Wordlessly, Kaiba knelt down by his feet and examined the cut closer

“How did you get this?”

A sigh from above him, but no real answer. He figured Jounouchi got into some kind of a fight again. Kaiba did his best to inspect the cut by tearing back the material of his pants a bit. It was deep, but not too deep for a hospital visit or anything. Blood continued to seep out from it, so Kaiba pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and pressed down onto the wound. 

“Wh-what the hell are you doing?”

“What does it look like?” He sneered. Then, he added in a gentler tone, “I’m just trying to help.”

“Why? Why are you doing this for me all of the sudden?”

Kaiba was taken aback by the harsh hysteria in Jounouchi’s voice and the way he responded so suddenly. He looked up and Jounouchi wasn’t looking him in the eye, rather he was looking away towards the mirror to the left of them. He must be pretty shaken up, his body trembling slightly.

Kaiba stood back up slowly and gently and grabbed him by the shoulders so they were both eye-level. Jounouchi still refused to look at him, resorting to staring at the ground.

“Look I… I’m just…” Kaiba swallowed hard, struggling to keep his voice from wavering. He wasn’t really used to being this honest with others. “I just want to know what’s going on.”

Jounouchi sighed and a stale silence fell between them.

“I’ve had... a really... weird… and rough week.”

Jounouchi’s voice wavered as he spoke, controlled but constricted, his voice breaking off at the last word. He was using every ounce of his strength to not break down right in front of Kaiba.

Kaiba saw this and didn’t know what to do. On one hand he thought about just walking away and leaving it be. Maybe Jounouchi would appreciate being alone. He tried to think about what he would do for someone he cared about… the only other person he could think of being Mokuba. But when he was in a bad mood, Kaiba would give him space until Mokuba came forward when he wanted to talk. It always worked with him. So now what? With Jounouchi inches from him on the verge of a breakdown, he couldn’t simply leave and ‘give him space.’ Kaiba’s mind was a jumble and felt as if his brain was fried just trying to process the whole emotional situation.

Tentatively, slowly, awkwardly, he did something very unlike him. He reached out an arm as if to wrap it around Jounouchi, insinuating a hug. It was stiff, almost robotic, but it was the best he could manage.

Without hesitation, seeing this small act of empathy, Jounouchi launched himself into Kaiba’s chest, arms wrapping so tight around his waist he thought he would snap in half. His hands clawed at Kaiba’s upper back as if trying to grasp onto reality itself, violently and desperately, and he buried his face into the fabric of his jacket, not shedding tears but gasping and breathing desperately for air as his throat constricted in itself. 

Kaiba stood in shocked silence, hand positioned on Jounouchi’s back as he dry-sobbed into his shoulder. He was stiff at first, but slowly leaned into the other boy, stepping closer, becoming relaxed. He waited it out for what felt like hours, until Jounouchi quieted down, the occasional sob wracking his body, and fell into silence.

Jounouchi lifted his head back up and looked up at Kaiba, eyes glassy with unshed tears, and rubbed his nose bashfully, a shaky, almost-smile crossing his face. 

“‘M sorry for that but… thanks Kaiba.”

Kaiba just looked at him with an unreadable expression, because his own feelings we’re exactly that; incomprehensible. He stood and offered a hand to Jounouchi, choosing to not respond at all.

Jounouchi’s hand was warm.

Both boys stood there silently for a moment before Kaiba took this opportunity to leave. He stopped at the door handle and said.

“Whenever you feel… like this again, you can come to me.”

Jounouchi stood dumbfounded, looking kind of awkward as Kaiba left without another glance, too exhausted to really do anything about it. 

* * *

Kaiba stomped back to class.

Why? Why do I continue to help him? And why on Earth did I say that?

* * *

The next week went by smoothly. Jounouchi had not had too many revisits from Marik and he thanked some higher being for that break. When he did, Jounouchi did a great job at just flat out ignoring him. He was actually sleeping at night, and he bought aspirins, seeing as they actually seemed to help with the recurring headaches that accompanied his… possession, haunting, or whatever the hell anyone would call his situation. 

As for his situation with Kaiba, they had actually been talking more since then. 

It was weird, the two of them spending time together. It was awkward at first after their last encounter, and they still bickered often, that wouldn’t change, but there was a gentleness that was not there before. A sort of understanding of one another.

Jounouchi dared to sit next to him when they had class together again and Kaiba looked up only for a second from his notes he was scribbling, pausing momentarily, then turned back to bury his nose in his notebook and kept writing. 

Jounouchi had let out a small held in breath and class carried out as normal.

* * *

It was Friday as their last class had just wrapped up. The two found themselves chatting together by their respective lockers when Jounouchi’s group of friends came by.

“Wow, Jounouchi and Kaiba talking and not fighting? I never thought I’d see the day.” Honda kidded as he approached the two, with Anzu and Yugi beside him, snickering a bit. 

Jounouchi knew he was right. It was odd that they were getting along so well, but ever since Kaiba actually showed concern for him that one time, they have been growing closer through some... strange bond.

“I think it’s nice seeing them get along!”

Yugi piped up, Anzu nodded sagely in agreement.

Jounouchi crossed his arms and stuck his chin up.

“What are you all making a big deal about? I’m just… borrowing his notes. I dozed off in class okay?”

He was surprised to hear Kaiba behind him laugh ever so quietly. It was too quiet for anyone to really hear, but he picked up on it. Jounouchi looked back at him and couldn’t help the fluttering feeling in his stomach.

“We were actually going out to grab something to eat, we were wondering if you wanted to come?” 

Jounouchi nodded enthusiastically to Anzu’s invite, mouth watering at the thought of eating gross fast-food burgers, but then remembered Kaiba behind him and looked back sheepishly. He looked slightly disheartened, turning away to put his books away into his locker. Ah. Of course, Kaiba never spends time with friends after school because he’s… never had any. It must hurt never being able to. Nobody else really noticed his disappointment except Jounouchi. Just as Kaiba turned to leave, Jounouchi grabbed him suddenly and turned back to Anzu.

“Actually uh… can Kaiba come too?”

The three looked at them eyes wide.

“Of course!” Yugi happily agreed and started on ahead. 

Jounouchi flashed a quick smile at Kaiba. He looked like he was about to protest, but clamped his mouth shut and only rolled his eyes in response, following them. 

“You can thank me later” Jounouchi whispered between just the two of them.

“Oh shut up” Kaiba bit back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! its Yami Marik!!
> 
> Thanks to everyone who's been reading so far :^D


	3. three

Jounouchi never thought he would ever visit Kaiba’s house on friendly terms. Here he was, riding passenger in Kaiba’s luxury car driven by one of his black-suited bodyguards, rolling into the driveway of the mansion. 

Jounouchi scanned the entrance hallway, a small hall with high ceilings and two ornate mirrors on either side. He was so taken aback by his surroundings he almost forgot to take his shoes off at the door.

Back home at his place, he never bothered to take his outside shoes off because his dad never seemed to do the same anyway. However, he wouldn’t dare dirty a house of this caliber.

Kaiba wordlessly guided him through the house, navigating through winding halls. Jounouchi tried to peek around each corner to see what rooms he could spot. So far, he’s spotted a sort of den with a large overbearing fireplace at the end, a kind of entertainment room with a fully stocked bar, and a small bedroom, he could only imagine was a guest room, due to it looking less modest than the rest of the house. The fact that they hadn’t even come across a functional room like a kitchen or living room still blew his mind, as he wonders where the hell those even were in this labyrinthine mansion.

“I know, it’s a bit… ostentatious. Especially for you.”

Kaiba spoke as they neared a door. He grabbed the handle, turning to Jounouchi.

“My step-father is the original owner of this place. He built it with his personal taste in mind. I would have never bought something so... obscene, but it would be a waste to just give it away.”

Jounouchi was actually surprised at that. He always thought this kind of over the top decor was Kaiba’s taste, but maybe he preferred something more modest. The two walked through the door, one after the other, and Jounouchi looked around as it opened up into a large library, floor to ceiling oak bookshelves filled with books lined the walls. 

“This is probably my favorite room here. It’s quiet and… helps me think.”

Kaiba’s voice sounded more intimate talking about himself like this. Jounouchi didn’t mind seeing this closer side of him.

The two slid into chairs across from each other at a large shiny wooden table. Jounouchi ran his hands over its surface. It was a beautiful slab of wood with lots of knots forming swirling patterns. Its surface was worn from years of use.

Kaiba pulled out a textbook from his backpack and opened up a binder bursting with hand-written notes. Both Jounouchi and Kaiba were prepping for a test coming up in their class. Kaiba knew the material, of course, it was Jounouchi who needed the help. It was their biology class they shared together and Jounouchi’s grades were falling dangerously low, so he really needed to do well on this next test. The room fell quiet, the only noise being the sound of rustling paper as they got to work, leafing through the pages of their textbooks and notes. They fell into a comfortable silence, scribbling down notes and turning a page every once and awhile.

* * *

Jounouchi glanced out the window to the right of him and found his mind wandering as he started into the sunlight of a nice Saturday afternoon. He felt the warmth from outside hitting the side of his face and listened for the sounds of birds chirping outside, managing a small smile. Jounouchi actually had not been able to focus all day, mind feeling worn and foggy, and he had trouble reading the text they needed to study. He re-read one sentence about six times trying to understand it before giving up, heaving a sigh as he leaned back in the creaking chair.

Kaiba looked up from his notes, the sunlight from the window covering half his face in light. He looked at Jounouchi, golden hair crowned by the brilliant sun behind him. He rested his cheek on his fist and wore a small amused smile.

“Can’t focus?”

Jounouchi crossed his arms and looked back at the knots in the table.

“Hey Kaiba… do you remember Yami Marik?”

Kaiba made a frown, shook out of the pleasantness of now, remembering all the trouble he brought during Battle City.

“Yes. Why?”

Jounouchi hugged himself tighter. Kaiba noticed this and remembered Jounouchi’s duel with Yugi, when he was being controlled by Marik. His jaw setting tighter subconsciously.

“It’s just… what if he never really died?”

Kaiba took a minute to process this. “That’s... ridiculous we all were there, Yugi destroyed that awful spirit after their battle.” Kaiba crossed his legs and his arms, leaning back. 

“Yeah but… Think about Bakura. We saw Yugi defeat him over and over, and his spirit just kept coming back. So it’s possible that…”

Jounouchi trailed off, looking unsure.

“What’s your point” Kaiba deadpanned.

He ran a hand through his hair, not really sure how to articulate this to Kaiba. Jounouchi was never good at putting his feelings into words.

“It’s just… that feeling, that thing I felt when Marik messed with my head and I was forced to fight Yugi. I felt disconnected from my body and I had no control. It was so vivid and, and... and I can feel it happening again-and it scares me.”

Jounouchi cursed at himself for sounding so vulnerable but he said it out loud, the thing that scared him the most. For some reason he felt he could only trust Kaiba with this innermost fear. He was separated from it all, if he told Yugi or any of his friends they would rush to pity him and comfort him but he knew Kaiba would have a logical response.

-

If there was something in Kaiba’s fist, it would have been crushed by how tightly he was gripping. He couldn’t think straight not with this… this wounded animal across from him. Jounouchi’s face held strong but his body language was all wrong. His arms held close to his sides and his legs drawn together, making himself small. It felt so wrong. Kaiba composed himself to respond, mouth feeling stiff.

“Well… rest assured, Yami Marik is long gone now so you don’t have to worry.”

He said lamely, going back to writing to end the conversation. Kaiba swallowed dryly. He couldn’t have all this make believe stuff haunting him again. First Yugi telling him about this… ancient prophecy, and now Jounouchi, of all people, thinks he’s possessed or something. 

He always prided himself with his word prowess, but now he was gaping like a dead fish struggling to find words because this… here was Jounouchi, opening up his heart to Kaiba. He swore he hated him less than a year ago, but now they were this close to where Jounouchi felt comfortable enough to confess something so personal. 

Kaiba glanced up, just for a moment, and saw those humble amber eyes of his, expecting him to continue speaking. His face heated up and decided to just stay quiet. 

After collecting his thoughts during a beat of silence, he added;

“You’re probably dealing with some kind of… trauma. Victims of traumatic events will tend to relive it after the events occurred, even going as far as feeling or seeing it happen again.”

Kaiba glanced at Jounouchi and his face was pinched in thought, as if he was taking a minute to process the information. Then he smiled and shook his head, his golden bangs following the movement.

“You’re right, I think I’m worrying too much. And… to be honest, it hasn’t really been happening as often lately.“

-

Jounouchi laughed at himself a bit, feeling relieved hearing Kaiba. It was just his mind… he just had to ignore it. Sure it was tough, but it wasn’t real.

It wasn’t real.

With a newfound strength, Jounouchi leaned over to read his book intensely, determined to get something accomplished.

…

“Hey uh… Kaiba, could you help me with this chapter?”

* * *

Hot hands traveled over thin fabric, exploring the shape of the other’s body. The sound of eager breath filled his ears and drove him to explore further, traveling under the fabric to the sweet warm skin underneath. He eagerly bit at the skin of his neck, lips lingering on the spot for a moment. Hearing a hitch in his partner’s breath, he moved up further to bite at his lips, hungrily eating them up, devouring them. 

He didn’t feel like himself. He felt like something else was driving this hunger and lust, driving him to ravage his partner’s face and drive his bloodied hand further inside of the other’s open, gaping stomach, in his guts, twisting his fingers inside and feeling their slick wet insides. He just wanted more and more. Thick iron-tasting liquid filled his mouth, coating his tongue and he pulled away. A mix of sweat, saliva, and blood connected their lips, then dripped onto his partner’s disheveled form. He looked so fucking good under him, blood oozing from his mouth as he struggled to breath. His face was hazy and wasn’t easy to make out, but he wore a small contented smile.

-

Jounouchi awoke with a start, the covers of his bed sticking to his sweat-covered body. It was still dark out, but this ghost of a nightmare still lingered behind his eyelids.

He had to remember. What happened? What woke him up?

He felt his eyes close again and sleep washed over him.

Jounouchi forgot entirely about the dream.

* * *

It was 1 PM on a school day. It was warm, the sun shining, dragon flies buzzing around the air, the tall grass waving in the wind. Cicadas droned on in the trees above.

Jounouchi decided to ditch his afternoon class that day.

He was walking through the school halls, heading for the staircase that led to the roof of the school. This actually was a common thing for Jounouchi. Sure, he had a near-perfect attendance record, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t ditch the middle of class. It was okay, as long as he came back before class ended. He sometimes just couldn’t stand shivering in the cold air conditioning of the classroom listening to his professor drone on. The windows open around school taunted Jounouchi, the smell of the outside yanking him away from class.

Jounouchi reached the top of the staircase and pushed open the metal door leading outside to the roof. Immediately he noticed someone else decided to skip class, sitting with one arm resting on his raised leg, back facing him at the door.

Then he noticed that person was Kaiba by his well fitted uniform and short, perfect, brunette hair.

Jounouchi stumbled where he was, not sure if he should silently walk up to him or yell out his name, his face flushed at his inability to choose. He chose the former, sitting quietly next to Kaiba when he approached.

Kaiba didn’t seem shocked (of course he didn’t, the man wasn’t fazed by anything) and turned to Jounouchi, an amused smirk on his face.

“Are you skipping too?”

Jounouchi scoffed.

“I’m just shocked to see a goody-two-shoes like you skipping out on class.”

“Please,” he groaned, “the stuff they teach sometimes is so basic it makes me want to claw my eyes out. Even children know the stuff they try to teach us.”

Jounouchi narrowed his eyes. Well, he guessed, he must be one of those idiot children Kaiba mentioned, because sometimes he couldn’t understand a word of what teachers were talking about.

“Besides, other than legally being obliged to, I really don’t need high school.”

“But what about final exams and college?”

“When you own a multi-million dollar company, do you really need to go to college?”

Well, when he put it that way it made a lot of sense. But, now that made Jounouchi wonder why Kaiba was even going to a basic high-school like this when he could probably go to some private school that costs hundreds of dollars.

Jounouchi was going to vocalize his questions, but when he looked back at Kaiba he seemed so lost in thought and into their shared silence that he shut his mouth. 

His eyes were such a piercing blue, Jounouchi thought as he peered at Kaiba discreetly. It reminded him of the blue-eyed dragons Kaiba cherished so much. A quiet minute or so of silence fell between them, comfortably. It was only broken when Jounouchi sneakily, but unsuccessfully, tore open a bag of chips.

Kaiba looked at him with a hint of disgust, eyes flicking between Jounouchi’s face and the junk food in his hands.

“What? I got hungry.”

Kaiba, humored, huffed and turned to continue looking wistfully ahead, not before quickly moving in to steal a chip from Jounouchi.

“H-hey, what the hell?”

* * *

After weeks of studying with Kaiba and cramming, the big red number 43% covering a good portion of his test greeted him when they all got their biology tests back. Normally Jounouchi would brush it off, having gotten used to failure, but anxiety welled up in his chest.

He was used to failure, he repeated in his head tiredly. 

He was expected to graduate school very soon. If he didn’t get better, he would have no chance of passing any entrance exams for universities. That would lead to him having to still live in his old man’s place, which he desperately wanted to escape from, and continue to work shitty jobs.

Jounouchi left school and walked home that day feeling off. A weird lump formed in his chest, he wasn’t sure if it was anger at himself, or worry, or frustration, or sadness or-

“Hey! Come sit with your old man for a second!”

Jounouchi’s shoulders visibly sagged. He stepped into the threshold of his apartment and the first thing he noticed was the stench of booze and cigarettes. His dad, unusually jovial looking with a beer in hand, invited him in. He really didn’t have time for whatever this was.

“Not now, I have a lot of homework “ he groaned, finding any excuse to leave, already turning to go shut himself in his room.

“Wh- homework? Since when have you done any homework?” He laughed a deep guttural laugh. Normally that wouldn’t get to him. Normally.

Jounouchi just gritted his teeth and continued heading down the hall to the little door at the end. Luckily, his dad didn’t make any more attempts to coerce him into “father-son bonding”, whatever that would entail. He sauntered into his room and tossed his stuff to the floor, collapsing onto the bed. 

What he would give to have a normal dad.

Sighing, Jounouchi rolled over to his side to stare at the scuffed up paint on his off-white walls.

“Hello again, Jounouchi.”

A chill ran down his spine. The last person or… thing he wanted to hear from. It was the ghostly form of Yami Marik.

“Go away” he pleaded weakly, covering his face with a pillow.

“Jounouchi, that’s no way to treat a friend” it purred.

“You’re. Not. Real. And you definitely are not my friend”

“Jounouchi, the fact that you think that… really hurts my feelings, you know. Besides, if I wasn’t real how the hell am I sitting right here.”

Jounouchi didn’t budge, choosing not to respond

“… I want you to look at me when I’m talking to you.”

Jounouchi felt a cold touch on his face and jolted upright, nearly falling off the bed. His breath caught in his throat as he locked eyes with the spirit tormenting him. Marik’s hand rested on his cheek, attempting to turn his face towards him.

Looking at his body, it was nearly corporeal, but not. He was solid in some parts, but transparent and ghostly in others. He wore a sleeveless top with golden jewelry adorning his neck and arms. His veins bulged out near his eyes, heavy with thick eyeliner and clearer than ever. They were sharp and pierced into his very soul. He was casually sitting on his bed, hand touching his face. His hand was unnaturally cold.

It was amazing what his mind could do in re-creating such a realistic form of his trauma. He even- God, he even felt real.

“Get off me you fucking piece of shit” he spat, recoiling away from Marik. He was not having it today.

“You’re not real, no matter how solid you are in front of me or if you can touch me or- or whatever!”

Jounouchi’s tone was biting and brutal, but Marik didn’t so much as flinch. He wore a complicated yet empty expression. Jounouchi’s heart pounded in his ears and he gripped tightly at the sheets under him. He squeezed his eyes shut and repeated his previous statement in his head like a mantra, hoping he could will this vision away.

Marik suddenly stood up and Jounouchi, startled, opened his eyes back up and moved back so his back was flush with the wall. The way no light glinted off Marik’s eyes terrified him. Yami Marik dropped his faux-friendly attitude quick and was now eerily silent, standing above Jounouchi, his mouth drawn in a tight line. It seemed like he was done talking and he was serious now.

Then it all happened so quick. Marik struck like a viper, his arm whipping out in front of him to grasp tight around Jounouchi’s neck, positioning himself on top of the other and pinning him back with an icy hand while his other hand stabbed into his chest like a sharp knife. 

Jounouchi let out a strangled agonized cry, the cold seeping into his chest was unbearable and he choked on Marik’s steel grip. He looked down at his own body while his head was spinning and his lungs screamed for air. Marik sat straddling him with his hand just… phasing through his chest. It didn’t make any sense and he could barely comprehend it through all the pain. There was no wound or blood, just Marik’s arm seemingly cut off cleanly at Jounouchi’s chest.

But he could feel Marik’s hand inside him, his cold fingers scraping inside his body and soul, fishing for something in there. He tried to beg for him to stop but all that came out were short gasps. To his shock, Marik released his grip around his throat. Jounouchi coughed and gasped for the sweet air to come back into his lungs, but Marik quickly put a hand over his mouth whispering a small “shh” as he did, his dark eyes not moving away from his other hand digging into Jounouchi’s chest.

Jounouchi felt compelled to obey and quieted down, not sure what Marik would do if he didn’t. He carefully studied Marik through his watery eyes, and the spirit seemed satisfied with something, smiling and looking back up to Jounouchi.

The cold turned into burning hot and Jounouchi screamed into the hand clamped over his mouth, eyes rolling back with pain. It felt like a fire ignited inside his chest and his insides were melting. Only moments later the pain subsided and Jounouchi felt his body slumping to the ground beneath him, panting to regain some conscious feeling. 

Marik sighed, getting up off Jounouchi and pulling his arm back out of him. Jounouchi made a choked sound when he noticed his hand was cleanly cut off, the bone and muscle visible. 

Jounouchi sputtered trying to find his voice to ask what the hell he just did to him, but Marik cut him off smoothly.

“Now we are physically connected” Marik spoke wistfully, inspecting his new stump hand. His sharp cat-like eyes shifted to Jounouchi, studying him as he was still gaining his bearings.

“I left a part of me inside you.”

Jounouchi felt his stomach drop. He had no idea what that meant but the tone in Marik’s voice and implications filled him with dread.

“Oh, don’t give me that face Jounouchi. You’ll love it, I promise.”

Marik soothed Jounouchi, climbing back onto him to straddle him on the bed. He put his one hand over Jounouchi’s chest, making him visibly wince. But he didn’t gouge him with his arm again, and there was no pain at all. He simply rested it there and to Jounouchi’s horror he felt something almost pleasant. Something connecting them both mentally. Marik closed his eyes, humming. He seemed to like the feeling, this closeness between them.

And Jounouchi couldn’t deny it. It felt warm, like two pieces forming a whole. He laid there in a comfortable daze, feeling their minds melding... until Marik gently pulled away, making Jounouchi almost whine at the loss of warmth replaced by the cool air of the room. Without a warning, Marik’s body seemed to start dissipating again, his form becoming more obscure. 

“See you later ” he said, grinning darkly.

When Marik was finally gone it felt as though a chill settled in the small room. He pulled his limbs closer and hugged himself, not sure what he felt. He knew he should be terrified about what happened, but an overwhelming sense of loneliness settled deep in his gut. 

He thought about Kaiba. How he wanted to be near him and wanted to occupy the same space as him. Anything to shake off this bitter loneliness. Then he thought of some stupid bad ideas.

* * *

Jounouchi tiptoed through the dark of his apartment, the light of the TV being the only thing guiding his eyes. He heard the loud snores coming from the couch and was relieved to find his old man passed out on the couch. Making his way to the small kitchen, rounding the corner careful not to bump into anything and create a loud noise, he pulled open the fridge door and peered inside.

“Nice.”

Jounouchi grabbed two six-packs of beer that his dad left untouched and carefully placed them in his bag, popping one open and taking a drink.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kind of make up a lot of lore for Yugioh from here on out, but let's be honest when has Yugioh been consistent with their universe lol
> 
> Thanks to everyone who's been reading so far :^)


	4. four

Kaiba sat in the dark of his study, reading by the tall window. It was raining outside, the rain pattering off the glass of the window, creating a soothing atmosphere, free from any bothersome noise. He reached for his tea beside him to take a drink when the door across from him opened. Light poured into the dark room, hurting his eyes for a second.

It was one of his bodyguards. “Sir, sorry to interrupt you. There’s someone at the door for you.”

Kaiba sighed and stood up from his seat, wondering who the hell needed him at this time, in this weather. He pushed past the guard at the door and stormed down the hall towards the front door.

He swung the oak doors open and was greeted by a cheeky grin from a rain-soaked Jounouchi. 

“What...” Kaiba punctuated his frustration by pinching the bridge of his nose, taking in a deep breath, “what the hell are you doing here?”

He was only wearing a white shirt and blue jeans, soaked through thoroughly, shivering slightly at the cold. He carried a bag slung over his shoulder.

Kaiba invited him inside with a sigh, mostly just to get him out of the rain. He grimaced at the water he was tracking in.

“It’s going on 11, do you have a good reason-“

Jounouchi pulled out a six pack of cheap looking beer, holding it up to Kaiba as if it was some consolation for being here this late.

“You wanna drink with me? C’mon,” he continued pulling out a second six pack, with a couple of cans already missing “It’s a Friday night, you should let loose...”

“How did you get here.”

“Well I took the bus, but you’ve probably never heard of that” he teased, gesturing at the house they were in “What, with all your money and stuff.”

Kaiba wordlessly gazed at him as he spoke. Jounouchi’s face was flushed slightly from the beer he’d already been drinking. It was strange. He had this sort of draw about him he couldn’t help but to be pulled in by. Something about how he spoke and felt was... honest. Kaiba dealt with so many dishonest, corrupt, snakes, being the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company, it was almost nice being around someone as open and disarming as Jounouchi. Normally Kaiba would have just kicked someone out like this (yes, even back into the rain,) but he decided to humor Jounouchi. He was curious about what he was up to.

“Hm,” he pondered. He had decided to let him stay, turning to walk down the hall. Jounouchi hesitated a moment then followed after.

“Just promise me you’ll change so you don’t trash the place with your rain-soaked clothes.”

“But I don’t have anything to wear” he mumbled, falling into place beside Kaiba.

“I own clothes, Jounouchi”

He put two and two together and realized Kaiba offered his own clothes for him to wear. 

“Oh.” A small blush crept up Jounouchi’s face, but Kaiba was turned away before he could see it.

After walking for a while, Kaiba turned into a room and Jounouchi followed behind. They entered a large room with floor-to-ceiling windows on the opposite end, a view of the rainy countryside outside. A large bed sat in the middle along with a seating area by the door with a large couch and smaller seats. Kaiba opened a drawer by the bed and dug around a bit before tossing some clothes at Jounouchi.

Jounouchi put the packs of beer down at the table quickly before struggling to catch what Kaiba threw at him.

“Bathroom’s over there.”

Kaiba pointed to the left of him to a small offshoot from the room. Jounouchi just nodded and did as he was instructed. The bathroom was as big as one would expect for the room, a large shower taking up the right wall. It was all white, white tiling, white sink-top, white towels, white rugs. He felt like he was in some kind of futuristic bathroom. Jounouchi nervously peeled off his wet clothes, hanging them over the shower door, and looked over to the ones Kaiba gave him.

-

Moments later Jounouchi walked out of the bathroom, wet clothes in hand. Kaiba almost let out a laugh seeing Jounouchi in his over sized sweater. The sleeves went a couple inches past his hands.

“You’re pretty damn long, Kaiba.”

Jounouchi motioned to the pants he was wearing, almost covering his feet.

He moved to sit on the couch Kaiba was at. In all honesty, he didn’t imagine getting this far and now that he was here he was at a loss. 

Jounouchi, don’t get nervous now… 

Oh, fuck it. Jounouchi grabbed another beer and chugged it the best he could manage. He gulped it down, leaving only a sip left, wiping his mouth proudly. Kaiba just looked at him disapprovingly, a deep frown settling on his face. Jounouchi guessed he was regretting inviting him inside just about now.

“So,” Jounouchi shrugged and started, finding something to talk about and break the silence, “why did you end up going to Domino High School?”

“That’s a pretty random question.”

“I was thinking about if for a while” Jounouchi said before finishing his beer and cracking open another. He motioned for Kaiba to have one too, but he ignored the invitation.

“Well the only other options close by were private schools and I… well I kind of hate the idea of private school. It’s full of self-important assholes, I don’t think I could stomach that.”

Jounouchi mulled on that. Well Kaiba himself was a self-important asshole for a while… he seemed to have a change of heart though and has considerably mellowed out. Sure he still had something annoying to say about everything Jounouchi said and teased him a lot, but nothing near the old Kaiba, who tried multiple times to kill him and his friends. That seemed so distant now. 

“What brought you to the high school?”

Kaiba’s question took him back a bit. Well, Jounouchi hadn’t considered Kaiba would ask him the same thing.

“Well… I went to middle school in a pretty bad area, was in a gang, and did a lot of fighting. And a lot of things I regret. I tried to clean up my act and go to Domino and I guess... I guess it worked out in the end, meeting Yugi and all.”

The same could be said about himself, that he has changed, Jounouchi mused. He seemed like a whole different person before he really became friends with Yugi. He doesn’t look back fondly at those times; all of his pent up anger and loneliness he used as a weapon against others. He didn’t know what kind of person he would be now. He wouldn’t want to know that version of himself.

Kaiba simply hummed in response, showing he was listening without responding verbally. He finally took his first sip of the beer Jounouchi brought and instantly recoiled.

“What… is this trash?”

Jounouchi snorted a laugh “Some cheap shit I stole from my dad.”

Kaiba groaned and stood, making his way across the room. Jounouchi twisted his body and saw the other kneeling in front of a mini-fridge. 

Ah, he must have his own personal stash of… luxury alcohol… Jounouchi thought, laughing to himself.

Kaiba came back with an expensive looking bottle of amber liquid and two glasses, with a single ice-cube in each, silently reaching out to Jounouchi, offering him a glass. 

“Don’t mind if I do.” Jounouchi took the glass, inspecting it. A Blue-Eyes White Dragon was engraved into it and he almost laughed out loud, but restrained himself.

Kaiba drank it down with little to no reaction on his face, placing the empty glass gently back onto the table. Jounouchi however almost gagged on the whiskey. It was too rich and it coated his entire mouth instantly, drying up his tongue and throat. He instinctively coughed after swallowing about a quarter of it down.

“Wow, that was an experience.”

“Never had good liquor in your life, huh,” Kaiba said with an amused smirk, pouring himself a second glass.

“Do you think I could ever afford this? “

Jounouchi settled on drinking the beer he brought instead, it didn’t feel right, him drinking something so… expensive. The stale cheap taste suited him better anyway.

They fell into a lull of conversation. Jounouchi studied the room closer, turning around in his seat. It was relatively empty, save for a king size bed by the tall windows, a dresser, some side tables, the couch and coffee table they sat at now. For how much space he had here, Kaiba did not occupy much of it with anything. Maybe it was a stylistic choice, but to Jounouchi it felt… kind of lonely and cold.

Jounouchi browsed the shelves up higher on the wall. Thy were lined with shiny well-kept trophies, each for something different. Jounouchi recognized a lot of Duel Monster trophies.

He looked to Kaiba who was looking elsewhere. He didn’t talk much, maybe he was bad at small talk. Jounouchi decided, with a grin, maybe the best way to get a conversation started with him was to stroke his ego.

“So, can you tell me what those trophies are from?” Jounouchi motioned with his beer-holding hand to the shelves.

Kaiba’s demeanor changed, he sat up and draped one arm over the back of the couch. Pointing to each he rattled off what each one represented.

“... Chess tournament in Switzerland, Duel Monsters tournament 5 years ago, another 1st place Duel Monsters trophy 4 years ago, and,” he paused thoughtfully “second place in a golf tournament in Germany.”

Jounouchi barked out a loud obnoxious laugh. “Fuckin’ golf?!”

Kaiba rolled his eyes and looked annoyed “Yes, and the guy who won was a piece of shit. I deserved that win.”

“Are you really that butt-hurt about golf?”

Kaiba looked at him without an ounce of humor on his face “Everything is a competition.”

“But… do you ever enter competitions with the idea of just having… having fun?”

Kaiba turned away from Jounouchi and looked as if he was in deep thought. Whenever Jounouchi competed in anything, Duel Monsters or not, he always enjoyed the experience more than anything. He couldn’t imagine just expecting to win everything and not have fun if he didn’t. 

“I…” Jounouchi turned back to Kaiba who started to speak, still brooding and staring at the edge of the table.

“No. I don’t know what the point is if I’m not aiming for winning. I…” he looked up and Jounouchi saw an unsure expression hovering on his face, like he was thinking hard about it. “It might have been something” he was careful with his words, Jounouchi could see the control in his eyes “I just picked up.”

-

Kaiba thought about his step-father. How everyone was just a pawn for him, a step up the ladder to the top. He saw every meeting, situation, competition as a chance to win and rise higher. And Kaiba used to be the same.

He liked to think he was different from who he was some two or three years ago. He was driven to the point of obsession over everything before, but he was set straight after being knocked down a few pegs, he is ashamed to admit. Losing helped him balance his life more than winning did.

He looked over to Jounouchi, who seemed to be lost in thought as well. Jounouchi’s life mirrored his in a lot of ways. He had a shitty father, Jounouchi had mentioned him a handful of times, but never went into detail, and a younger sibling he would die for, but his ideals were so different. While Kaiba was consistently winning until he lost to Yugi, Jounouchi was constantly losing, but that sense of defeat was what kept him going, striving for a win. Kaiba let out a short breath he was holding.

“We aren’t so different.”

Jounouchi looked up at the sudden break in silence and Kaiba realized he mumbled that out-loud. 

“What do you mean?”

“It’s nothing… “

Kaiba kicked himself internally for saying something so… so cheesy out-loud. Sure he could, he supposed, appreciate, Jounouchi’s honesty and boldness, but he certainly wasn’t going to find himself acting the same.

Kaiba eyed the bottle of whisky. That really was what loosened his lips. He took another drink and felt it deep in his stomach. He tried to think of all the things he was too guarded to admit out-loud...

He liked these honest talks he had with Jounouchi. He really did. He also liked Jounouchi’s outlook on life, that positive approach he took to everything. He, deep down, hated how negative he viewed the world, along with everyone he met. He dreamed of having that childlike innocence he had also once had. 

Kaiba really looked at Jounouchi now, studying him. He could also admit Jounouchi had a nice body, probably from fighting in the past. And he liked the rugged look of his hands, now wrapped around a half-empty can of beer, small scars along his knuckles and fingers that hinted at his rougher past but not enough that you noticed them at first. And his skin was a nice shade of tan that complimented his bright hair, Kaiba wondered if he bleached it blond or if that was natural, maybe he wasn’t entirely Japanese…

“Hey, Kaiba, you spacing out on me?”

Jounouchi’s slightly slurred question alerted him again and he looked into his eyes. He had nice eyes too; a warm shade of amber. Like honey. 

“I was doing a thing people do, called thinking, you might not have heard of it” Kaiba teased. He admittedly couldn't keep a straight face and felt his mouth betray his words, turning up a bit. Dammit, he really was getting drunk now.

He realized he was holding an empty glass, absentmindedly toying with it in his hand while he was thinking quietly. He decided that was probably enough for him tonight, placing it back and steadying his other hand on the couch. Well, he thought that he put it on the couch. It certainly felt warmer than a couch.

Kaiba looked back and realized he put his hand on Jounouchi’s thigh.

He pulled his hand away, slower than he meant to, and didn’t say anything about it. He felt his face heat up, but he kept his expression steady.

-

Jounouchi felt Kaiba’s hand press into his thigh and his body felt like it was on fire. He didn’t know if the pleasant feeling that ran up his spine was his own conscious feelings, or if it had to do more with the pleased humming from Marik in the back of his head, as if he was feeling exactly what Jounouchi was feeling.

Everything felt so nice when he forgot about Yami Marik. For the first time in a while tonight, Jounouchi became painfully aware of him again. Marik felt more omnipresent in his mind than before, as if he’d just woken up since Jounouchi last saw or heard from him. But just as quick as it happened, Kaiba’s hand pulled away, almost tantalizingly too slow. 

Jounouchi nervously licked his lips, something thrumming inside him making him anxious to feel again. Whether it was the alcohol or the heat of the moment, he did not know. He felt touch starved and longed to be closer to this other body beside him. Starting slowly and inconspicuously, Jounouchi moved to sit closer to Kaiba until their legs were touching. The contact between them was like a hot flame. 

Jounouchi felt his mind get hazy, numb from the contact. Every noise in the room sounded like he was underwater, sinking into the depths of a dark body of water. Something in him unraveled loose, the alcohol helping immensely, and he decided to just go for it. He was fueled by a rush of nerves and adrenaline, pumping through his heart, racing like wild. 

Jounouchi carefully felt his way up to Kaiba’s thigh, hand steadying itself there as he climbed up until he was on eye level with Kaiba. The boy beside him visibly froze.

-

Kaiba’s heart raced and wouldn’t slow down. Something foreign to him kept him glued to where he was, immobilized by some unknown force. He gazed into Jounouchi’s eyes and they had a sort of far away look to them, even though he was looking right at Kaiba. He could almost feel the whole room vibrating with a strange energy that drowned out all logical thought.

-

Neither of them were shocked when their lips met, gently at first, getting a feel for the softness of their mouths. Both of their mouths tasted of liquor. Jounouchi pushed further, getting rougher with Kaiba’s lips, biting and pulling on his tender mouth. In past relationships, Kaiba always liked taking the lead and took pride in having control in these situations, but right now he felt like he was in a trance. He let himself become submissive. Jounouchi was practically on top of Kaiba now, steadying both of them with a hand on Kaiba’s chest.

They both gasped, opening their mouths to breath only for Jounouchi to pull them together moments later, experimenting with tongue. Kaiba was willing and accepted as Jounouchi explored his mouth, feeling over his gums, tasting all that there was to him. 

They pulled away again to breath, and Jounouchi prodded at Kaiba’s lips, red from use, with his thumb. Kaiba stared back at him with a distant expression, expectant for Jounouchi to continue.

His. 

He continued to kiss at Kaiba underneath him, but moved down to the side of his pale neck. His skin was so sensitive, small red marks appearing from where Jounouchi softly bit. With each love bite, Kaiba sucked in air from through his teeth, feeling his body grow hotter.

Kaiba is his.

Jounouchi worked on one spot on the crook of his neck, sucking and biting until his skin turned red and purple. Jounouchi deepened his bites relentlessly on his soft skin. His hand on Kaiba’s chest only pressed down harder, making it more difficult for Kaiba to breathe.

“…ah...”

Static was all Jounouchi could hear, pulling his mouth away from Kaiba’s neck and moving his hands up to the mark he made, fingernails digging in, trying to rip it open. His mouth tasted of blood. He wanted to see blood. He dug his fingers in deeper, nail breaking the flesh. His head was spinning from the smell of blood. He was filled with the need to see the red liquid ooze out from the skin to know he was alive and there was blood pumping through his body, to breath in the irony smell more and lick it up so he could, could...

Could own him.

“Jounouchi!”

A hand roughly clasped around his shirt collar on the back of his neck, yanking him back literally, and figuratively, to reality. He regained his bearings to the room he was in, the cool sweat dripping down his neck, his hair sticking to his slick skin, his body positioned above Kaiba, the red staining his porcelain neck.

Jounouchi looked towards Kaiba’s expression, a mix of anger, hurt, and… fear. He looked back to the wound he made and back to Kaiba’s piercing eyes, twisted in anger.

“Get off me” Kaiba spat.

Jounouchi shrunk back, moving away from Kaiba and felt hot shame creep up his face. He peeked at Kaiba, but he wasn’t looking at him, he was looking at the wall, hand covering the spot where he hurt him. Jounouchi’s hands trembled.

I hurt him. 

He felt a weight leave the couch as Kaiba left him, walking into the bathroom and shutting the door loudly. The room was eerily silent after, the sound of rushing water in the other room almost drowned out by how loud Jounouchi’s own racing thoughts were.

Jounouchi folded into his own body, tears pricking at his eyes and Kaiba’s hurt face burning into his eyelids. He wished none of this shit happened and he just stayed home. He looked down at his shaky hands… were they even his own hands? He didn’t feel like himself. This had to be Yami Marik’s doing. He hugged himself tightly and shut his eyes, refusing to cry now. 

His heart felt like it was carved out with a knife; emptied out and hollow. He knew it wasn’t his fault, but how could he ever explain that to Kaiba? He looked back at the bathroom door; Kaiba felt like he was miles away just in the next room over. He was torn between begging for him to come back or outright bolting, avoiding confrontation.

He decided to leave with his tail between his legs before Kaiba could come out, getting up off the couch and heading for the door, quickly, before his body or mind could betray him. Just as he got up he heard the bathroom door click and open.

“Where are you going.”

Jounouchi froze, hand positioned on the handle of the door ready to bolt. It was less of a question, more of a demand. He didn’t know why Kaiba wanted him to stay not after he… what he…

Kaiba was close enough that he could smell the cologne he had on; it was a gentle yet masculine smell he vaguely noticed before. Jounouchi jumped a little when he felt Kaiba’s long arms wrap around his body, sliding under his own arms. He suddenly felt so exhausted and wanted to just melt in his arms, not even stopping to wonder when their boundaries had faded away, allowing each other to be this close. His legs felt like jello and the room swayed; Jounouchi was reminded now of how much he actually drank tonight.

“I think you need to sleep.”

Jounouchi let himself fall apart into Kaiba’s arms, feeling cold and empty. He clung to Kaiba afraid he’d still leave him. His vision swam and his mind was spiraling, all he wanted was to fall into the embrace of sleep.

“I’m so sorry. I... don’t know what to do” he said lamely.

-

The two didn’t speak after that. Kaiba led him to the other side of the room and they climbed into Kaiba’s bed, Jounouchi practically falling asleep the minute his head hit the pillow.

Kaiba watched him closely, every micro movement his face made as he drifted into a dream. Kaiba wondered, laying here like this, what Jounouchi was really going through, what burdens he was carrying. 

He looked so peaceful now, softly snoring, face smoothed out from the worried expression he wore before.

Kaiba knew he didn’t mean what he did. He thought back to what Jounouchi said the other day, about Yami Marik haunting him again, and wondered what it all meant. It couldn’t be that that… man or spirit or whatever he was really came back from the dead and possessed Jounouchi. Kaiba was a bit more open minded about the supernatural and spirits since what happened in Battle City, but he had a very hard time believing that. But after how strange Jounouchi has been acting for the past couple of weeks, and especially tonight, he didn’t know what to think.

Kaiba absentmindedly brushed a fallen bang away from Jounouchi’s face. He blushed, realizing how close they’ve gotten in the span of a few hours. He pulled his hand away fast, like he’d burned it, as if someone was watching this intimate act. When he was this close to Jounouchi he felt like he acted on impulse more often. Perhaps it was Jounouchi’s behavior rubbing off on him.

He continued to watch Jounouchi in his sleep, his body rising and falling with each breath. He remembered the other boy on top of him, ravenously tearing into his shoulder and a shiver ran through his body. Not from fear, he realized, but with a morbid excitement. Something dark stirred in him and he didn’t know why. He absentmindedly touched the tender spot on his shoulder, bruised from how rough Jounouchi was with him.

He drifted into a quiet sleep moments later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always struggle to write Kaiba, so I hope he doesn't feel too OOC throughout this lol...  
> As always thanks for your guys comments and thanks for reading!


	5. five

The sound of heavy breathing echoed through his mind. Him, on top of Kaiba, hands bracing his body above the taller boy, fingers splayed out on his naked chest. He was so eager to see him, inside and out. Kaiba smiled softly up at him, inviting him to continue. 

This wasn’t like before, on Kaiba’s couch, the two boys experimenting in that lonely white room. Now the two were laying upon a soft surface within a dark room that smelled of some kind of exotic flowers.

Jounouchi trailed his fingers over the lithe body below him, his rough and ragged fingers in contrast to the perfect ivory skin. His mind was racing with dark thoughts... of ripping into that perfect skin. His pulse quickened and his thoughts quickly turned to mush and static; he had to remind himself to calm down and take it slow; to savor the moment. He pushed his two thumbs hard around the other’s larynx, halting his breath and making him gasp. 

Jounouchi’s hands lingered there for a moment, a rush going through his body realizing he had the other’s life in his hands. He hummed, tilting his head playfully, and moved his hands away from Kaiba’s neck, down to the middle of his chest. He felt the other’s chest rise with a large intake of air. 

Once Kaiba regained his breath, Jounouchi began tracing the line between his pectorals. With each time his thumbs retraced the path in the middle of his chest, he pushed harder and harder. Blood rushed through his ears muffling all sound and his wide eyes focused on his work. He pushed harder, harder, (Kaiba sucked in a breath,) harder,  _ harder. _ He pushed hard enough in the center of Kaiba’s chest until he heard something crack. 

Kaiba made a quiet sound, wearing an expression twisted in pain and pleasure. Jounouchi dug his thumbs inside the other’s chest, under his flesh, doing more damage to his rib cage until he broke through with some kind of supernatural strength; his fingers deep in Kaiba’s chest. He grabbed Kaiba’s ribs from the center, now that they were broken in half, and began ripping his skin and muscle open outwards. The motion was like opening a book; he dug through flesh, muscle, and bone, until he grasped his wet bloodied hands around Kaiba’s beating, living heart.

-

Jounouchi woke with a start, drenched in sweat. He panicked realizing he didn’t know where he was, alone in a big, empty room with a large bed. He glanced to the side to see a sleek digital clock reading 4:32 in red numbers. 

Right. He remembered where he was. His memories came back to him like a sack of bricks.

With a tired sigh he rolled to the other side to face Kaiba. He was turned away, sleeping at a distance from him and Jounouchi suddenly felt a deep loneliness he couldn’t explain, suddenly not being able to see him. He shivered and pulled the thick comforter tighter, trying to fight his sudden wakefulness. Nothing worked.

He crawled out of the bed, careful to not disturb his sleeping partner, and waited for his eyes to adjust to the murky darkness until he saw a sliver of the metal threshold of the bathroom door shining off the moonlight from the large windows behind them.

Jounouchi felt his way to the door and made sure to close it again once he was inside before flicking on the switch. His eyes stung from the sudden brightness, covering his eyes.

When he pulled his arm back down what met him was the large almost entirely marble bathroom complete with a shower, that could probably fit seven of him (comfortably) a long counter with two sinks, walls covered in mirrors, and a soft rug Jounouchi found his feet sunken into. All white.

He padded up to the mirror and looked himself in the eye. He would’ve jumped if he wasn’t used to looking this sleep deprived. Dark bags hung under his eyes and his skin just looked an off color, even in the flattering lighting of the bathroom.

What he did jump at was the figure appearing suddenly behind him. His bones ached with dread and he steeled himself for their inevitable conversation.

“Do you understand how close we are yet?” Marik asked with a devilish grin. Jounouchi first made note of the fact that his arm was still missing from whatever he did earlier today.

“What the hell are you talking about?” 

“You’re not even in control of your emotions or body anymore, soon you won’t be in control of anything.”

Jounouchi shivered at Marik’s words. He was right, and it was terrifying. Nothing was sacred, nothing was safe.

“Why are you doing this, fucking with me like this. If you wanted to kill me or whatever just do it already.” Jounouchi wanted to sound threatening, but his words felt so weak and hollow.

Marik stepped closer to Jounouchi so they were side by side, like two friends having a conversation. “Jounouchi, I would never want to harm you. You’re my  _ vessel.  _ And I need  _ allies.  _ I figured you were becoming very close with  _ Seto, _ so I had you mark him.”

“Wh-what?  _ Mark him?”  _ Jounouchi sputtered.

“He’s yours now.”

Jounouchi’s conversation was interrupted by the light sound of the door opening. He was startled by the sound, on edge from Yami Marik showing up. Kaiba stood in the shadow of the room, the light reflecting off his blue eyes, the only thing visible in the dark. He crossed the threshold into the light.

“What are you doing? It sounded like you were talking” he spoke softly as he rubbed his tired eyes.

Jounouchi looked down sheepishly, afraid of the sensation that burned in him when they locked eyes. 

“Sorry, I couldn’t sleep” he said flatly. He avoided Kaiba’s other comment and hoped he wouldn’t notice.

Kaiba stood close to him, but made no move to make contact. Did he feel what Jounouchi felt? Was he afraid too? Maybe Kaiba knew that Jounouchi had “marked” him, whatever that entailed.

“You should try, you look like shit”

Jounouchi snorted a laugh. He appreciated Kaiba’s brutal honesty sometimes, he really did. 

“You’re right.”

He wondered if one of Kaiba’s bodyguards would be able to drive him home, then shook his head, imagining one of Kaiba’s fancy cars rolling up to  _ his _ neighborhood in the middle of the night. That wasn’t a good plan. He felt his stomach flip at the thought of staying here longer though, in fear of what else he might do.

He looked back at the mirror. Kaiba was about a half a head taller than he was, and his own slouched posture did nothing to shorten the gap. Jounouchi’s treacherous eyes fell to the bruise on his neck, perfectly visible from profile like this where his shirt fell low enough to see. His breath caught in his throat.

He turned to face the real Kaiba, not the reflection. He focused on his eyes then back to the mark on the crook of his neck. It looked worse than it did in the mirror. Angry and purple, with small scabs forming around it. His voice hitched in his throat with a mix of guilt and dark gratification. He felt like throwing up as his hand moved to touch it.

He flicked his eyes back to Kaiba’s silently asking with his hand raised eagerly. Kaiba looked back and, to his surprise, his eyes silently allowed Jounouchi to touch his bruised neck.

Jounouchi let out a sigh he was holding in as his thumb grazed the rough, bruised surface of skin, gliding across the wound. He felt a dull burn in his chest, not unpleasant, quite the opposite. He knew Kaiba could feel it too, something in the other’s face changing in composure.

So many ideas ran through Jounouchi’s head, but he restrained himself to only touching. Reluctantly, he forced himself to pull away and looked to the floor, one hand bracing him to the counter beside them.

He felt Kaiba’s burning eyes on him and could feel the millions of questions stirring up in him, but didn’t feel able to answer any of them. He couldn’t even muster the energy to say sorry. All he felt now is incredible tiredness. 

“Can I call a cab?”

That feeling of sickness washed over him again. He didn’t want to be here anymore, everything he touched was ruined and fucked up. 

“... Of course” Kaiba said after a moment's hesitation. “I can pay for it if you need-“

“No, I can pay” he lied through his teeth, knowing that a cab ride from here would cut into his measly savings heavily. But, he decided, Kaiba had done enough for him in the past few days.

He finally looked up again, but Kaiba was looking towards the door, already moving to leave. He knew he had to say something else.

“You understand, right? I don’t… I don’t want to…”

Jounouchi mumbled, not sure how to finish that. Kaiba was already out the door. 

-

On the ride home, Jounouchi gazed at the city lights lifelessly, feeling a deep hollowness settling in the pit of his stomach.

* * *

  
  
Jounouchi spent the rest of his weekend in a daze. He got yelled at at work for spacing out more than once. He was both relieved and anxious when school rolled around again. It was good to see his friends again, being his regular old self, and having something to do. But he dreaded seeing Kaiba.

They passed briefly in the hall and Jounouchi avoided his eyes like the plague. He felt hot shame wash over him for doing so, but struggled to think of how he could even interact with Kaiba now.

So when he found a note neatly placed in his desk his stomach twisted. 

_ RM 412 _

_ Kaiba Seto _

Boy did he like to keep it brief. Jounouchi’s nerves didn’t let up. He absentmindedly toyed with the little paper as class started and the more he waited the more he dreaded. Maybe he wouldn’t go at all. Maybe he would just leave school, the dread was worse than he anticipated. 

His eyes caught Yugi’s from a few desks away from his and he looked concerned, dying to ask him what was going on. With a growing irritability, he stood and left class. He couldn’t take it anymore and decided to just get it over with.

As he neared the room marked on the note, he recognized Kaiba leaning on the wall by the ajar door. He looked up, hearing Jounouchi approach, but didn’t move. Jounouchi noted the bandage covering part of the other’s neck.

An irrational fuming anger welled up in him at the sight of the covered mark. Was he trying to hide it? Was he that ashamed? He should be  _ punished- _

Jounouchi quickly willed those foreign emotions down with horror. Where did that come from?

It was Kaiba who moved first to bridge the gap between them, grabbing Jounouchi’s wrist. The sudden contact shook Jounouchi out of his thoughts and focused in on Kaiba’s cool gaze. His face was so unreadable and it frustrated him to no end.

“I can’t stop thinking about you.”

Those words silenced all of Jounouchi’s racing thoughts. He couldn’t help the confused noise that escaped his lips. Kaiba’s expression was of brutal honesty and Jounouchi realized he must have really meant it. 

The words themselves awakened something darker. Jounouchi revelled in the thought of Kaiba trying to get through class, images of himself distracting him all day, thoughts of the other night clouding his head.

He was about to respond when Kaiba dove in and took Jounouchi’s lips within his own. His body burned with fire and he wrapped himself around the other, deepening their kiss. His more rational side remembered they were in the middle of the hallway at school and he reluctantly pulled back, looking around them nervously.

Kaiba already had a plan. He opened the door beside them, gesturing inside.

“This classroom is always empty.”

Jounouchi was shocked to hear Kaiba literally planned this out, but was too excited in the moment to dwell on that. The pair made their way to the empty teacher’s desk near the front of the class. 

Kaiba sat atop the desk and Jounouchi leaned into him, seeking out his neck, growling almost like an animal. He picked at the bandage covering the mark on his neck.

“Why’d you cover it” he said huskily.

Kaiba looked back at him, eyes wide, like he didn’t have an answer. Jounouchi ripped the bandage off and Kaiba hissed. 

His hands ghosted over the bruised area, having healed from a few days ago. He sighed as he felt Kaiba shiver under his touch. He ran his tongue over the spot, tasting the iron tang of the damaged skin. 

… He felt something was wrong and stopped. He looked over Kaiba and he looked white as a sheet, frozen in place. Suddenly the urge to protect him welled up from inside him and he quickly pulled away from the other boy.

“What. What’s wrong” Jounouchi said shakily.

-

Kaiba’s lips opened to respond, but he closed his mouth and looked away, looking ashamed. Jounouchi was acting like something possessed again, but it was gone in an instant. He looked down at his hands gripping the chipped wood of the desk beneath him, feeling them tremor ever so slightly.

He thought this would work, he  _ wanted  _ this; if he just submitted himself to Jounouchi, it would feel… right. But now, his stomach lurched in his gut because he knew  _ that wasn’t him _ . It was deeply disturbing. He tried to backpedal, to remember if Jounouchi was acting strange today, but his memories were hazy and unclear, as if he had been walking around school today in a daze. 

He could remember when he saw Jounouchi in the hall when he got to school, how when their eyes met his body burned. His stomach flipped and his body ached with the  _ need  _ to submit himself to him.

“Are you okay?” Jounouchi’s concerned voice broke him out of his thoughts. He looked really worried. Kaiba made sure to try and steel his face, hiding his own confused expression.

“Sorry. I just spaced out.”  _ Did Jounouchi even realize he was acting strange before? _

“Spaced out? You looked like you were on a different planet” Jounouchi laughed quietly.

-

Jounouchi swallowed hard. Moments before, he felt his body and mind go wildly out of control, moving only by pure desire. He did it again. Marik fucked with him again. He gripped his fists so tightly he broke through the skin on his palms. 

“Let’s get out of here before someone walks in, okay?” He offered to help Kaiba down from the desk, but he hopped down himself and made for the door. He looked back expecting Jounouchi to follow.

They left the room together.

-

_ I’m probably just imagining it again  _ Kaiba thought.


	6. six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just as a warning, this chapter has a bit of dubious consent throughout, for anyone uncomfortable with reading that. It's nothing major or graphic, mostly unwarranted kissing, but just letting ya'll know now!

Jounouchi and Kaiba started skipping class a lot. They spent most of their time on the roof or in that abandoned classroom, where the ceiling leaked and the floor tiles cracked and shifted. They didn’t mind, because it was the quietest place in school. They often met up there just to be together privately, with nobody there to question or judge them. They often just talked, or sometimes it was just Kaiba typing away on his laptop, doing something for Kaiba Corp, and Jounouchi just watching him; maybe he would be messing with him or typing non work-safe words into his important emails to fuck with him. Sometimes it was not that innocent, sometimes it was two young adults learning things about each other’s bodies pushed up against the chalkboard, or by the window as the rain fell onto the glass gently. 

Kaiba enjoyed this time together. He  _ really  _ did. So much so that he didn’t want to admit that whatever was happening to Jounouchi was getting worse. He was seeing it more and more often that it was starting to scare him. Out of nowhere Jounouchi’s personality would shift to something much darker and domineering, usually when they were getting intimate.

He didn’t like it. But he found himself unable to resist or say anything about it. Something about that other personality willed him to obey whatever Jounouchi asked of him. And he didn’t question it very much. He found himself unable to do that either. It was like he was under some spell, unable to say no. He hesitated to use the word ‘trapped’ in this situation, because it was a lot of his own fault for his continued denial of anything being wrong. He didn’t realize all this did was hurt Jounouchi further.

* * *

“What’s wrong Kaiba?” 

Kaiba was turned away from Jounouchi, face hidden from the sunlight shining in from the window behind them. They were back in their hidden room again, wasting the school day away. He got lost in his worrying thoughts, barely even registering Jounouchi’s voice right in front of him.

“Why aren’t you looking at me?”

There it was again. That voice that didn’t feel like Jounouchi. It wasn’t  _ him  _ that’s not his  _ voice,  _ it was too harsh and commanding. A strong hand grasped his chin and turned him so he was looking right into Jounouchi’s eyes. He was studying him.

Then Jounouchi took him by surprise and forced his lips onto Kaiba’s. It was violent, aggressive, suffocating. It felt…

_ Wrong. _

Kaiba pulled away with some effort and stood up abruptly, almost losing his balance. The room itself seemed to sway with an uneasy feeling. He looked down to see Jounouchi’s hurt expression. He felt a twang of guilt, but it was quickly gone when the other boy stood up too, almost eye level with Kaiba. His face was twisted in anger.

“You can’t do that.”

Kaiba was taken aback by just how overt he was with his words. They felt cold. He only glared back, saying nothing. He hoped his unwavering eyes sent the message enough. _ Don’t do this. _

Jounouchi, unfazed, only seemed to become more aggressive, his face taking on a cruel expression foreign to him. He gripped at Kaiba’s shirt and leaned into him so their lips almost touched again. 

“I should punish you.” As if to give his words more meaning, he gripped into Kaiba’s chest so hard it hurt.

Kaiba backed down. His breathing stalled as his heart raced, he felt as if the walls began caving in on him in this room. Their room. It was supposed to feel safe, but now it felt like a nightmare. He turned to leave quickly, fearing what might happen if he stayed any longer. Just as he got to the door, Jounouchi was behind him and grasped his arm with a titan-like grip.

“Where are you going.” He didn’t dare to look back and pulled his arm away with all his strength before bolting out of the room.

-

_ Why did he run away from me? What did I do wrong? _

After Kaiba left, Jounouchi sunk to his knees, back against the wall.

He just wanted Kaiba to  _ stay _ . He didn’t know what went  _ wrong… _

His hands were shaking uncontrollably and he couldn’t recall ever feeling this  _ cold _ . He didn’t know what came over him, but now the idea of Kaiba being away from him tore him apart. Like a piece of him was missing.

“You’re bond with him is very strong.”

Jounouchi nearly jumped at the sudden voice behind him. Yami Marik was by his side. It had been a long time since he had shown his face, but he looked the same as ever, his clever eyes sharp as usual. His right arm still missing, cut off just before his elbow.

“Shut up! What- what the fuck is going on?” Jounouchi struggled to catch his breath enough to breath because  _ god _ , it felt like he was dying.

Marik rubbed his back, soothing the irate confusion out of his body. Jounouchi sank further down onto the floor, so he was sitting with his arms wrapped around his legs. He could feel cold sweat dripping all the way down his neck, onto his back.

“Well, he left you and you didn’t want him to leave. Shouldn’t he be reprimanded for that?”

_ Reprimanded? _

Jounouchi licked his chapped lips. He thought about the images in his recent nightmares, the foggy, but morbid, feelings he remembered. His hands  _ tearing _ through flesh-

“No!” Jounouchi stood and pulled away from Marik’s touch, backing away slowly, “I don’t want to hurt him- I don’t want to hurt anybody!”

He decided it was better to keep running. That way he didn’t have to listen to Marik talk into his ears. Or, at least, he had a distraction from him. He bolted out of the room and headed towards the exit of the school.

-

Kaiba couldn’t help but feel his pride shattered. He grit his teeth and slammed his fist into the side of the wall. His body shook with feelings he couldn’t place, too many thoughts swimming in his head. 

He wasn’t supposed to feel like this,  _ weak  _ and  _ vulnerable.  _ He’s  _ Seto Kaiba _ , he should have fought back.

_ You wouldn’t fight Jounouchi. _

Pulling himself away from the wall he kept on walking. He had to fight this, not fight Jounouchi, but fight whatever had a hold on him. 

As Kaiba turned the corner he instantly noticed Yugi down the hall and stopped dead in his tracks. The other did the same, looking equally surprised at seeing him. 

And it wasn’t Yugi. No, it was his other side, which made this surprise meeting more strange. Yami Yugi looked as if he were looking for him. Well, he didn’t want anything to do with it, especially not right now.

Kaiba shook himself out of his shock and moved forward to brush past Yugi. 

“Kaiba.” Yugi moved to grip his arm as he passed. Kaiba grit his teeth, pulling away from the others grasp.

“Let me go.”

“You’re just going to run away if I do.”

Kaiba sighed, annoyed. Well yeah, of course he would. He gave up and relaxed his body, showing Yugi he wouldn’t run this time. Kaiba waited for the other boy to speak up and saw something unusual in his usually confident eyes. Confusion and hesitation, but he didn’t dare look away from Kaiba’s demanding gaze.

“It’s about Jounouchi.”

His stomach only twisted more at the sound of his name. Yes, of course it was about him. 

“Something is wrong with him, and you’re not doing anything about it.” Kaiba was taken back by the force of his words and their implications. Yugi looked like he really meant it, teeth clenched and eyebrows furrowed. 

“What the hell do you mean” Kaiba feigned an oblivious tone. It was a stupid response, but he didn’t know what else to say.

“You know what I mean” Yugi seethed “I keep getting… strange, unnatural feelings from his spirit, each day it seems to get worse. And  _ you know _ this, you two spend all this time together, and yet-” Yugi was panting, hand clenched in the fabric of Kaiba’s shirt pushing him against the wall. He paused for a moment, then continued “My partner, the other me. He’s been so worried but there’s nothing he can do. And I hate having him feeling so helpless. I feel it too.” 

Yugi’s grip loosened on Kaiba’s shirt and he averted his eyes to the ground, looking ashamed. Kaiba slumped against the wall, generally exhausted from the amount of emotions swirling around today.

“I know. I screwed up.”

Kaiba could see out of the corner of his eye, Yami Yugi glancing up in shock. For a second it looked as if the regular Yugi was in control, his eyes wide and childlike after hearing Kaiba’s statement, but his shadow appeared again looking more stern. 

“So you’re with me then.”

Kaiba nodded, looking back up at Yugi with calm determination. “I’ll do whatever it takes to get him back.”

He couldn't keep feigning ignorance, not after what has been happening. Yami Marik had something to do with this and Kaiba swore to stop him before this destroyed Jounouchi. Or himself.

To his surprise, Yugi’s expression lightened up and he chuckled softly, cutting through the harsh atmosphere from before.

“What?”

“Nothing it’s just that… I haven’t seen you care this much about someone, besides Mokuba. He must mean a lot to you.”

Yugi’s words made him squirm and he decided not to humor him with a response to that.

“Oh, another thing” Yugi spoke suddenly, changing the topic. 

Yugi’s sudden change in conversation surprised Kaiba and he looked back down at him. Yugi’s face took on a grim expression again.

“The Millennium Rod has gone missing.”

* * *

After he ran out of the school he thought of anywhere he could go that would just be… quiet. 

Jounouchi jammed his keys in the lock of his front door and swung the door open quickly, making a beeline for his room to just lock himself in there. Of course, it wasn’t that easy.

“Hey, where’re you running off to so quick?”

Jounouchi instantly froze.

“I think we have something to talk about, involving the beers you stole,  _ Katsuya _ .”

His father came up right next to him, towering over him with his height and size. In that moment had no defense to come up with to save his ass, he just glared down at his feet.

It came and went quickly. A sharp pain exploded from the right side of his face, so strong it made him turn the other direction. He rubbed the sore soon-to-be bruised area and stayed eerily quiet.

“Make sure to buy me some more before tomorrow.” Without another word, he walked away and sat back in front of the TV. He muttered something to himself as he lit up another fresh cigarette, pressing the one that was hanging from his mouth into the ashtray.

Jounouchi unfroze from his spot after what felt like an eternity. He shut himself in his room and dug into his clothes drawer for what money he had saved.

“Why didn’t you fight back?” Marik’s question echoed in his head.

He honestly deserved to. His fists  _ ached _ from how hard he had them clenched and how hard he fought to keep them from moving away from his sides. It would feel  _ so fucking good _ to sock him in the mouth so hard his jaw would shatter. For everything he’d done. 

But then he would feel so fucking guilty after, it would eat him alive. Because that’s what Yami Marik would’ve  _ wanted _ him to do. 

His own apartment felt horribly claustrophobic, he wanted anything but to be there right now. He couldn’t do anything to calm his racing heart and trembling hands. He shoved the money into his backpack and bolted out the door.

* * *

Jounouchi ended up settling on a cheap, dirty motel about five minutes from home. The whole walk there he was in a daze, like walking through a dream, with his ears ringing the whole way.

He found himself suddenly in a dingy motel room, his bag from school sliding off his back and onto the floor. He tried so hard to block out Marik’s voice in his head. It felt like burning claws ripping into his chest; like someone taking a hammer to his brain. He sunk down to the grimy carpet and held his head in his hands, anything to lessen the pain coursing through his body. In this moment, he finally felt fucking alone and let down all his walls, feeling like a vulnerable pile of vomited up emotions. Wet tears rolled off his cheeks.

“Please… just get out of my head.” He begged.

“You know I can’t do that,” Marik just laughed.

He groaned, pressing his hands up to his temples. It was unbearable. All he could do was writhe on the floor, playing back Kaiba’s shocked, hurt, expression followed by his dad’s enraged expression, over and over. Playing like a movie in the back of his head. He couldn’t do anything fucking right!

He tried to claw at his own head, hoping the sharp pain would clear his mind like it had done before, but the feeling of Marik in his head wouldn’t leave. He slumped down onto the floor, feeling defeated.

He flinched at the sudden cold on his shoulders, realizing it was Marik’s cool hand. Jounouchi struggled to shrug it off, to no avail, body too exhausted and wracked with pain to move.

“Leave me alone” he whined pitifully, an almost whisper.

He got no reply, only an amused smirk from Marik.

“You can do better than this Jounouchi, just let me help you.”

“Fuck off!” Feeling a second wave of energy, he shook the other off, backing into a corner and turning to face him, face contorted in anger.

He must have struck a chord. For the first time since Jounouchi could remember, the spirit’s face contorted into unbound raw anger. The veins around his eyes seemed to bulge out in his fury. His cold fingers gripped into his shirt, pulling him close so that their noses were inches apart.

“Stop... REJECTING me.”

His voice bellowed and shook Jounouchi to his core. Genuine fear settled in his heart, the desperation of the situation making itself apparent. He realized how deep in the shit he was, no way out in sight. Jounouchi silently obeyed and stopped struggling as much, despite the pain crawling all over his skin. Marik’s face settled back to its usual smooth confident smirk, as if he didn’t just severely lose his composure.

Marik reached up his one hand to brush through Jounouchi’s his hair. He hated how it soothed him, how good it felt, the coolness contrasting his burning skin. His body betrayed him and leaned into the touch. 

“Yes. That’s it.” Marik’s voice vibrated with victory, unable to contain his pleasure. It filled Jounouchi’s veins with ice.

Marik leaned into Jounouchi’s neck, his cool lips sucking at his flesh. It had him melting. He was unable to keep himself from falling into his arms. It was laughable how quickly Jounouchi went from thrashing in his grip to moaning at his touch. He felt hot with shame.

He let himself get swept into the other man’s kisses, letting his chilled tongue glide over his lips and in his hot mouth. He sighed into the kiss, having just about given up.

Marik gently pulled away, his hand moving down Jounouchi’s body. His cool hand sneaking under the fabric of his shirt, feeling up his bare chest. 

It was that feeling again. That harmonic hum when their bodies met in that same spot as before. Jounouchi felt magnetically drawn forward, wanting to push their bodies as close together as possible. 

“You can feel me, right?”

Jounouchi nodded into his chest, words escaping him. Marik phased his hand into the other’s chest like before, but it felt comforting and gentle unlike the force from before. It was warm and sent pleasant chills through Jounouchi’s body.

“All of the fear, hate, and negative emotions humans have. That’s what I am born from,” Marik’s voice rumbled softly from his chest, as he quietly studied Jounouchi’s face. “It’s what I live off of. Without it I am nothing. But, there’s so much hate and fear and negative feelings in humans, I can and will... live forever.”

He moved his hand away from his chest, down to grasp Jounouchi’s hand, and Jounouchi found he was holding something. It was cold and metallic feeling. 

“With this, I can send the whole world back into chaos. The world can be under my thumb again. I just need you, Jounouchi.”

His fingers grasped around what was in his grasp. He immediately recognized the sheer power coursing through it into his hands and into his very being, the force sending chills down his spine. Jounouchi looked down and in his grasp was a metallic, golden, rod. In his hand was the Millennium Rod.

Jounouchi’s mind was swirling, begging to ask how the hell the Millennium Rod ended up here, but no words could escape his lips. He struggled to even move his lips.

“Get up off your knees.”

Jounouchi did so, with a lot of effort. He stood at Marik’s height, eye level with him. 

Marik’s plea echoed through his head again. He  _ needed  _ him? Jounouchi suddenly couldn’t decide what to do, his mind feeling fuzzy. His eyes fell to Marik’s outstretched hand. He considered it, licking his dry lips. He didn’t know why he  _ shouldn’t _ .

Just as Jounouchi lifted his hand to grab the other man’s, something cold stabbed into his chest. He could barely even react to the feeling before it grew worse, piercing through his abdomen and into his body. Burning pain erupted through his body and he could only open his mouth and scream in pain.

The pain itself was indescribable, not only from being stabbed but the mental pain as well. Agonizing ripping pain clawed into his head, his thoughts becoming just pure white noise as the rest of the world fell silent. 

Jounouchi dropped to his knees, suddenly unaware of Marik next to him or anything else in the room around him. The only thing keeping him grounded to reality was the feeling of a pair of hands gripping at his skull. It frightened him at first, until he remembered they were his own hands; his lifeline to reality. 

It was all too much at once, all of his senses clogged and overstimulated. Everything pulsed and fluctuated as the world around Jounouchi warped before his eyes. The walls around him twisted into faces, hazy messes of static and flesh coagulating and mixing with shapes and colors too sharp and bright for the human eye. He could swear the faces were laughing at him. He just wanted to curl up on himself and cry, but every shift in his joints felt like red-hot needles stabbing into his limbs. 

He let out a strangled whimper at the burning feeling in his stomach as his body lurched forward. He covered his face with his hands, the world swaying and flashing too much for him to handle anymore. 

He managed to look through one eye between his fingers and continued to watch in terror as the figures around him twisted and morphed until it was just one clear figure. 

Yami Marik towered above him, his form blocking any light and casting a long shadow over Jounouchi. He could barely register the feeling of Marik pulling the rod back out of him among all the pain. Their shadows danced on the wall and Jounouchi doubled over. He was honestly shocked he was able to stand that long.

In an attempt to keep his insides from spilling out all over the ground, he brought his hands to his stomach. To his surprise, there was no open wound where he had been stabbed through.

He felt himself fall deep into the ground as it gave around his body like water, his face passing right through. A ripple formed where the solid certain ground once was, extending outwards at the touch of his skin. It is suddenly hot and envelops him, almost akin to the feeling of sticking his face into a burning hot oven. He looks up before his whole head falls under and he can still see the figure of Marik standing above him.

Now his whole body has fallen through and he attempts to scream, because his voice is the only thing he has control of anymore. But, to his shock, his open mouth is greeted with thick, hot, sticky-sweet liquid and it pours itself into him. He is literally drinking in his surroundings as it forces itself into his body. The air is so thick he struggles to close his mouth, all the while the sticky-sweetness envelops his body and mind, like a heated blanket.

For a brief moment he finds peace, as if back in the womb listening to the beating of some large heart powering the body he is inside. He floats motionless in this dark space. Maybe he could just stay here forever, embraced by this feeling.

Reality grabs him by the arm and he is tossed ashore like a fish out of water, ripping him from the warm embrace into a stinging cold. He coughs and sputters, the liquid ejecting from his body and all over the ground. It was an inky blackness, seeming to crawl away from him as it left his body. His vision wavers, feeling like he had too much to drink.

He shivers when he comes to. The ground is a gun-metal blue glass that stretches out for miles. It’s cold on his knees as he kneels on its unforgiving surface. It seems to just suck all the warmth out of his body, leaving him shivering and utterly alone. The sweet ebony liquid continues to fall out of his throat as he shakily coughs it up and his senses become keen again.

He hears footsteps echo off the glass floor, another person besides him in this room. He looks up and sees Marik again. He was honestly just relieved to see another entity besides himself here. 

Marik grabs him by the face, holding his chin. “You will stay here forever.”

He said it as simply as that and Jounouchi felt neither scared nor comforted. Anything but what he went through before this. Without the energy to bite back or even to cry, he simply nodded as Marik pulled his warm hand away from Jounouchi.

Then, he was alone again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting close to the end boys :^)


	7. seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the extra lateness! Enjoy :^)

After Yugi and Kaiba spoke back at the school, they went to look for Jounouchi, but he was nowhere to be found at school or at home. They could only think to look at places near his apartment he could be. 

The two walked into every store, motel, gas station; whatever they could find on the street Jounouchi lived on. They asked the same exhausting questions about a dozen times about a young blond high school student, about yay high, coming in recently, before getting the answer they wanted to hear.

When the greasy man behind the counter in the lobby of the motel just down the street from his apartment said someone matching his description checked in not a half-hour ago, Kaiba sprinted down the hall. And ended up here.

The door to the motel room swung open suddenly with a bang. Kaiba stood panting at the doorway. Surprised that the door was unlocked and opened so easily, Kaiba invited himself inside. There, Jounouchi sat motionless on the floor, on his knees, facing the wall. 

Kaiba ran to his side, hesitating when Jounouchi didn’t so much as move at the sound of him approaching

His eyes were open, but glazed over with a haze. Kaiba pressed his lips together tightly, fearing the worst. But when he reached for the others wrist and held it, he felt a slow, steady pulse.

Yugi showed up in the room shortly after Kaiba, running up beside him out of breath. Just as he opened his mouth to speak to Yugi, a voice right beside him startled him.

“You came back.”

Kaiba whipped his head back around to Jounouchi and the other gazed right into his eyes. 

“Jounouchi?” Kaiba’s worries and doubts seemed to dissipate hearing his voice again, seeing he was okay. 

And then Jounouchi smiled.

Kaiba felt his blood run cold and his heart seized. He stood up from where he was crouched next to the other, backing away.

His honey-gold eyes were cold and dark, his smile didn’t hold a shred of familiarity. It clearly wasn’t Jounouchi.

He saw the distrust in Kaiba’s body language and dropped the act. His smile fell into a deep set frown as Jounouchi stood up, face cast into shadow. 

“I guess there’s no fooling you.”

“What did you do with him” Kaiba spat.

“You’re too late” fake Jounouchi said with a small smile. He held out the Millennium Rod as if to prove his point.

“Kaiba,” Yugi gasped, “It’s worse than I feared.”

Kaiba felt red hot anger well up inside him. Yami Marik was the one who caused Jounouchi so much pain and tortured him throughout the last few months… and now he was using his body as a puppet. He would never let him get away with it. He clenched his fists hard and stood to challenge the other standing before him.

“That doesn’t belong to you.” He straightened his posture so his height towered over Jounouchi. Yugi moved to stand side-by-side with Kaiba. 

“What is the meaning of all this. How did you get the Millennium Rod?” Yugi questioned.

“I gave up being a lingering spirit roaming this world. I wanted to be flesh again- to come back and rule this Earth once more with an iron fist,” Marik, as they already guessed, spoke from Jounouchi’s body as he shifted his weight to his other leg, the Millennium Rod dangling loosely from one of his fingers like an accessory. “I just needed some help from a few mortals to get what I wanted. I guess I just got… lucky.”

“You’re... sick. I won’t let you have what you want,” Kaiba hissed, seething with rage.

Jounouchi looked up with his achingly familiar eyes, amused at Kaiba’s resilience. He crossed his arms, not budging, almost beckoning Kaiba to run at him and attack. 

But he didn’t.

One foot in front of the other, Kaiba calmly walked up to Jounouchi with only hard set determination on his face. 

And he grabbed the rod right out of his hand.

  
  


-

A brilliant flash of gold filled the small room and everyone inside was blinded for a moment. Kaiba blinked once, twice, three times, until he could finally see his fingers in front of him again. There was a hazy filter over everything he saw, like the static of an old TV screen.

He waited for his eyes to adjust after the bright light had gone away. What he saw was a dingy, derelict hallway with doors on either side. An old dim light flickered on the ceiling. He almost thought he was back in the motel, out in the halls, but this was definitely somewhere else. 

Outside the window at the other end of the hall, the sky was… hard to explain. It seemed like day and night at the same time, or rather shifting between both too quickly for Kaiba’s eyes to keep track.

The air was stagnant and thick and smelled of old cigarettes and grime. The floor was a cracked terrazzo tile that hadn’t been cleaned in a long time. When the building was built, it probably would have been an impressive pattern, but now it was a muddy brown covered with the tracks of thousands of people walking through here.

Kaiba’s footsteps echoed on the old terrazzo with each step. He glanced at the doors on either side of him, the tarnished golden numbers on each increasing in value as he walked further.

At the end of the hall he came upon a door that was left a crack open. Without a second thought he gingerly pushed it open further and invited himself inside. 

He stepped into a small, but comfortable, living room. It was well lived in, the couch dropped down in the middle from the weight of so many different people sitting in it, the coffee table in front of it was smudged and chipped, probably from it getting banged around. The carpet was worn and stained and the floor was old wood that creaked with each step. Kaiba felt compelled to remove his shoes before walking in, out of respect for the family here.

At least, Kaiba could swear he could almost see a family living here. Ghost images he saw from the corner of his eye. Picture frames that he could swear held memories, but when he moved to pick one up and dust it off, the image inside was blank.

All of the doors were shut tight around him. They probably led to different bedrooms he had no business peeking into. But again, one door was cracked open just slightly, and Kaiba felt drawn towards it, itching to see what was inside.

He gently pushed the door inwards and it was a bedroom, presumably of a young boy. A couple of posters and drawings decorated the navy walls. There was a small messy closet packed with shirts filled with grass stains and jackets with flashy logos. 

Sitting on the small bed by the window was Jounouchi. He was turned away, facing the window, so Kaiba only saw his blond head.

Kaiba sat beside him carefully.

“Hey.”

His voice felt like gravel, and speaking felt like a Herculean task. His words came out as a grumbled whisper but Jounouchi heard him, he just didn’t turn to face him.

Kaiba noticed, now that he was closer, that Jounouchi was holding something in his hands. It looked like broken porcelain.

Kaiba grasped Jounouchi’s arm and finally Jounouchi reluctantly faced him. Kaiba instinctively let go his trembling hand in shock, because where Jounouchi’s face would be was a cracked hole, like someone shattered him and left him wounded. There was nothing behind the cracked skin, just hollowed out darkness. 

Kaiba couldn’t look for too long because it gripped at his heart and made his chest hurt. He looked down to the other’s hands, still burdened with these shattered pieces. 

Kaiba reached to grab one, but Jounouchi recoiled, pulling his hands away and looking away. 

“I just want to help you.”

Jounouchi’s body softened, but still he stiffly would not face him. Kaiba readjusted himself on the bed to fully face Jounouchi.

“You know I need you as much as you need me. I just…” Kaiba was upset at his own brain for not being able to process his  _ feelings  _ into spoken word. “You know I’m not good at speaking… truthfully, I just… really need to see you again.”

Jounouchi turned back to Kaiba in shock, almost forgetting why he wasn’t looking at him to start. Then he looked down at the pieces in his hands again.

Kaiba grabbed a piece, this time without Jounouchi putting up a fight, carefully searching Jounouchi’s skin for a spot it would fit. He placed it around his cheek and just like that, it fit and melded perfectly. No flash of light or magic, or anything Kaiba thought he might see.

It took him a while, finding a place for each place to sit, and the whole time the two were painfully quiet. 

Kaiba found a place for the last piece and, he lost track of when, but Jounouchi’s warm eyes were looking back at him soon enough. His lips trembled like he could literally break apart again any minute, but he was there. He was coming around, taking in his surroundings quietly. He tried to say something but almost choked on his own words, his throat not yet ready to speak.

Kaiba didn’t say a word, he didn’t need to. Instead his hands found their way to Jounouchi’s own hands and just the feeling of skin on skin contact was enough to reassure both of them.

“We need to get out of here.”

Kaiba spoke with urgency, but Jounouchi looked reluctant to leave. He avoided staring at him directly and glanced over the walls.

“Is this place… important to you?”

He didn’t respond, nor move his head. Kaiba followed line of sight to see where he was looking. It was a little photo on the nightstand. Kaiba could see it perfectly clear, unlike any of the other photos in this dream-scape; it was a picture of a happy family and, unmistakably, Jounouchi and his sister were smiling at the bottom of the photo. There were two smiling parents too; Kaiba never asked too much about his family history, he assumed this was before his parents started fighting, before the split.

“It’s… not real. This is the past.”

Kaiba didn’t know if he said that out loud to convince Jounouchi or himself. Why was this within the Millennium Rod? Why was it showing them this, or doing any of this?

Jounouchi finally turned to face him again, with sad eyes. He didn’t have to speak, his eyes spoke for him.  _ I know, but I can’t bring myself to leave. _

Kaiba swallowed hard, because he knew just how that felt. To let go of times when everything was okay. But he also knew it wasn’t safe here. Whatever this place was, it wasn’t real. And he had a feeling Marik would find them somehow. He stood up and offered a hand.

“Come on.”

Jounouchi looked at him, then back to the photo one last time, before giving Kaiba his hand. He lifted the other off the bed and guided him out of the room. 


	8. eight - end

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait but........ here it is!!

He actually didn’t know where to go from here, but Kaiba knew there had to be some kind of exit. He was aware of Jounouchi behind him, stumbling trying to keep up.

Kaiba peeked out of the doorway from the apartment. The hallway looked relatively the same, empty and full of closed doors, so he stepped out with Jounouchi in tow. The two made for the other end of the hall.

Jounouchi suddenly stopped, tugging on Kaiba’s arm when he tried to step further. 

“What? What’s wrong?” He turned to Jounouchi and his face was white with fear, his eyes gazing up ahead of them. Kaiba turned back around to look and a figure stood in front of them.

Yami Marik looked ghastly before them, body not entirely opaque. His form flickered in and out and energy came off of his silhouette in wisps. This is the first time Kaiba has seen him since he showed up at Battle City. The sight of the evil spirit sent adrenaline rushing through his veins.

Kaiba stood his ground, he could feel Jounouchi not as keen on this idea, tugging at his hand and trying to pull away. He could admit his heart was pounding in fear too, but nothing good could come out of this if the pair kept running. They had to fight this.

“Jounouchi we have to stay and fight here” Kaiba began in a whisper, “I know he has some kind of weakness, he doesn’t have complete control here.

That seemed to calm Jounouchi down.

“You think you can run from me… but this is now my domain, you can’t escape me in here.” Marik held up the Millennium Rod to emphasize the power he had over the situation.

Kaiba couldn’t help but feel his pulse race at the sound of that voice, fists clenching and un-clenching in anger.

Marik directed his attention away from Kaiba to look at Jounouchi. “Just give up and this can be over, my Jounouchi.” 

Kaiba’s blood only grew hotter hearing Marik use his name affectionately like that. He looked back to Jounouchi and found he was surprisingly defiant, glaring back at Marik. His grip tightened on Kaiba’s hand shakily and he stood firm. Kaiba held him tighter than ever.

“I’m not running from you anymore.”

Kaiba’s breath caught in his throat and he couldn’t hide his surprise hearing Jounouchi speak again. His voice was raw but held strong.

Marik’s eyes lit up and he smiled wide and devilishly “Oh, is that so?”

“All I’ve done is run from you. I... found ways to run from you; hurting myself and cutting my flesh open time and time again. But no, not anymore. I’m done doing that.” 

Jounouchi closed his eyes for a moment, pausing from speaking, as if willing up some energy from within himself. He then reopened his eyes. “You don’t belong here, so why don’t you leave?”

Marik stood perfectly still with a surprised expression. Then he broke out into boisterous laughter, pointing at the two of them mockingly.

“You think you can just will me away? I will always persist, no matter what you do!” Marik abruptly stopped laughing, face becoming dangerously serious.

Before he could see anything happening, Kaiba panicked as he felt himself being grabbed, a hand clamped over his mouth. Another hand held his arms back restrained, he knew it had to be Marik. In his ghastly form, he still was solid enough to grab onto another human being. His heart pounded in his ears as he struggled to free himself from Yami Marik’s iron grip.

“Let go of me!” Was what Kaiba was trying to say, but his voice came out muffled behind Marik’s hand.

“Kaiba!” Jounouchi ran for him, eyes wide with worry, but stopped in his tracks. Marik held something cold up to his throat. The sharp edge of a dagger pressed into his skin and he felt a drop of blood slide down his neck.

“You do what I say.” Marik’s voice was laden with satisfaction; he had the upper hand.

Kaiba swore internally. He watched Jounouchi’s horrified expression and hated he was the cause of that.

“No…” Jounouchi denied softly, looking defeated.

Marik pressed the dagger further into Kaiba’s neck, making his head fuzzy. More blood leaked from his neck. He could feel his hot breath on his skin.

“You know, if anyone dies here in this realm they will never get back to reality” Marik hummed, only driving the dagger in deeper. 

“Stop!” 

Kaiba barely heard Jounouchi scream as his vision suddenly went dark. 

Only a moment must have passed because the next minute he was standing a couple feet away, turned around facing Marik, who was stunned into silence.

Kaiba felt a weight in his hand. Looking down he realized he held the Millennium Rod. He lifted it up so its shimmering golden surface was eye-level with both Marik and himself.

Marik was quiet as Kaiba held the Millennium Rod. Kaiba didn’t know how it ended up in his hand, but he knew exactly what he had to do the moment he felt it in his grasp. Its weight felt comfortable in his hand; it fit into the shape of his palm and felt natural on the grooves of his skin. He closed his eyes and let the familiarity wash over him silently. 

“The Millennium Rod brought us here and will take us back. But not you. You will be judged for your wrongdoing and obliterated from existence.”

Marik was uncharacteristically silent, his mouth agape as he took a step back, away from the two.

“No… you can’t be...”

Kaiba held up the Millennium Rod above his head and the light from the grimy windows glinted off it’s reflective surface. The light grew and became too bright for them to keep their eyes open. The last thing Kaiba remembers is the blood-curdling scream Marik let out as he was ripped from existence.

And then black.

-

Jounouchi awoke uncomfortably. 

He looked up in his hazy sleep-filled vision and saw Kaiba stirring awake beside him. His memories from their strange journey together was hazy, but he remembered enough.

His first instinct was to wrap his arms around the other, holding him tight. To know they were still both alive and breathing was a wonderful feeling. Kaiba made a shocked, surprised sort of noise, but settled, his hands finding their way up Jounouchi's back.

He felt Kaiba mumble something into his shoulder, his breath hot on the fabric of his shirt.

“What was that?”

Kaiba pulled away, eyes averted, his face tinted with embarrassment. 

“You idiot…” he looked about ready to smack Jounouchi and he almost backed away, but Kaiba’s face softened. 

“I was worried I would never get you back.”

He spoke so softly Jounouchi had to strain to hear, but his ears didn’t deceive him. Now it was his turn to look embarrassed. He laughed nervously and tried to come up with something to make fun of the other, but he couldn’t.

They both looked to the ground, at a loss of what to say. Before now they were busy fighting for their lives, but now only dead silence stood between them.

“I’m sorry,” Jounouchi mumbled.

“No… there’s no need for that.” Kaiba’s voice became loud again, almost sounding angry. Jounouchi shrunk away reflexively and Kaiba, seeing this, smoothed his expression into a gentler one.

“You were caught in something you had no control of. None of this is your fault.” His voice came out warm and forgiving.

“I’m glad to see you two are alright.”

“Ah!” Jounouchi jumped at the sound of a third person in the room. He relaxed a little when he realized it was just Yugi. But, he was instantly uncomfortable again realizing just how close Kaiba and him were in front of him, and moved away just slightly.

Kaiba chuckled softly, almost quiet enough so just Jounouchi heard him. It was just for his ears.

“I was worried when Kaiba seemed to disappear and your body went limp” Yugi continued talking to Jounouchi, changing the topic. He turned away and looked down at his shoes, arms crossed in thought. 

“How did Marik get his hands on the Millennium Rod again? I had it safely stored away… ” His voice turned to a mumble as he kept talking to himself. 

Suddenly Yugi looked up and glared at Kaiba intently.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

He then softly laughed to himself. 

“Somehow I think Marik knew you had ancestral ties to the Millennium Rod. Or, just a lucky guess.”

“Wh-me?” Kaiba sputtered “You know I have nothing to do with these… made up magic items.”

“Maybe… Hm…” Yugi began to look more like his regular self and not his shadow. He looked up from the ground as if he just entirely lost his train of thought, his wide eyes childishly innocent.

“Well whatever it is, I’m done hanging around here” Jounouchi suddenly stood, shoving his hands into his pockets. He looked back at Kaiba nervously, hoping he would follow.

Kaiba stood up wordlessly and followed Jounouchi out the door.

“Let’s put all this behind us.”

As they left, Jounouchi and Kaiba both reached out for each other’s hand in secret, their hands bumping together awkwardly. Their intertwined fingers locked together as a promise to one another. To never let something like this happen to the other again.

-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally made it to the end! I wanna thank everyone who read along the way and especially everyone who's commented. I wish I could've responded to you all but I've been so busy with school and work, but just know I read all of your comments!
> 
> Also I know the end probably was confusing as shit because I had to fuck with established lore a lot lol. Basically, Kaiba unconsciously uses the powers of his ancestor Set when he gains control of the Millennium Rod. I think at some point in the manga Set sealed spirits away with the rod so I... kind of ran with that idea lol
> 
> Thanks again for reading! :^)


End file.
